Fed. Cir.

United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit

Every decision we've summarized from United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

Apr 29 2026
24-1236 Panel Decision

FEDERAL EXPRESS CORPORATION v. QUALCOMM INCORPORATED

The Federal Circuit vacated the Patent Trial and Appeal Board's obviousness determination because the Board failed to properly apply the KSR standard by not explaining how a person of ordinary skill would have been motivated to combine prior art references. The court declined to review the Board's decision denying the motion to terminate the inter partes review proceedings.

Civil Intellectual Property
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Apr 29 2026
24-1237 Panel Decision

FEDERAL EXPRESS CORPORATION v. QUALCOMM INCORPORATED

The Federal Circuit affirmed the Patent Trial and Appeal Board's finding that FedEx's sensor network patent claim 26 was obvious but vacated and remanded the decision for claims 9 and 23-25. The court held that the Board violated the Administrative Procedure Act by failing to address a specific argument FedEx raised regarding the requirement that a single power management instruction alter both the master node and ID nodes.

Civil Intellectual Property
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Apr 29 2026
24-2097 Panel Decision

CENTRIPETAL NETWORKS, LLC v. CISCO SYSTEMS, INC

The Federal Circuit affirmed the district court's judgment of noninfringement for three network security patents, rejecting Centripetal's arguments on claim construction and factual findings. The court held that Cisco's packet-filtering products failed to meet specific statutory limitations regarding two-stage filtering, but-for causation, and automated rule generation.

Civil Intellectual Property
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Apr 29 2026
24-1258 Panel Decision

Linyi Chengen Import and Export Co., Ltd. v. United States

The Federal Circuit reversed the Court of International Trade, holding that the Department of Commerce properly rejected untimely documents and applied an intermediate input methodology to calculate dumping margins. The court affirmed that Commerce acted within its discretion to prioritize finality over accuracy when respondents failed to disclose key production records during the initial questionnaire phase.

Administrative / Agency Review Civil
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Apr 24 2026
24-2053 Panel Decision

Jones v. United States

The Federal Circuit affirmed the Court of Federal Claims' judgment that the United States is not liable for the 2007 death of Todd Murray, a Ute Indian Tribe member. The court held that the plaintiffs failed to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that a police officer shot Mr. Murray rather than him committing suicide.

Civil Forfeiture / Penalty Summary Judgment
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Apr 23 2026
24-1956 Panel Decision

SLINGSHOT PRINTING LLC v. CANON U.S.A., INC

The Federal Circuit affirmed the Patent Trial and Appeal Board's decision that specific claims of a semiconductor substrate patent were obvious. The court found that prior art references collectively disclosed all claim limitations and provided sufficient motivation for a skilled artisan to combine them.

Civil Intellectual Property
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Apr 23 2026
24-1406 Panel Decision

CENTRIPETAL NETWORKS, LLC v. KEYSIGHT TECHNOLOGIES, INC

The Federal Circuit affirmed the Patent Trial and Appeal Board's obviousness rejections for most claims of a network-threat detection patent but reversed its finding for two specific claims. The court held that the Board failed to provide substantial evidence that a skilled artisan would have been motivated to combine prior art references to render claims 4 and 14 obvious.

Civil Intellectual Property
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