Case: Patents/Attorneys’ Fees (Fed. Cir.)

The Federal Circuit affirmed a decision of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims ordering the federal government to pay a patent owner $4.4 million in attorneys’ fees and costs in an infringement case involving Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Oak Ridge, the largest U.S. Department of Energy science and energy laboratory, used information from the patent owner’s application for a patent on a materials processing method without permission. After the patent was issued, the company filed an infringement suit against the government for more than $4.5 million in unpaid royalties. The Federal Circuit determined that “the position of the United States” ...