Inventorship Issue Dooms Railing Patents at Federal Circuit

An appeals court wiped out patents belonging to Fortress Iron LP, which designs and sells outdoor fences and railing items, ruling the company’s omission of a Chinese inventor from its patent applications was fatal.

“A patent which incorrectly lists its inventors and cannot be correct according to law is invalid,” wrote Judge Alan D. Lourie in a precedential opinion issued Thursday, affirming a district court’s dismissal of Fortress Iron’s lawsuit against Indiana-based Digger Specialties Inc. over sales of a deck-railing product.

Writing for a three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, Lourie rejected Fortress Iron’s ...