The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit gave notice on Monday that it will hear a cross-appeal of Judge Richard Posner's 2012 decision to dismiss an Apple v. Motorola FRAND patent case, with appeal proceedings scheduled for September.
First spotted by FOSS Patents' Florian Mueller, the CAFC announcement comes almost one year to the day since Apple and Google's Motorola appealed Judge Posner's initial dismissal in July 2012. According to the court, the hearing is slated for Sept. 11 with responses to oral arguments due four days later.
The hearing will cover the dismissal of a two-way Apple v. Motorola that was the result of a Motorola complaint to the ITC over wireless technology, and a subsequent Apple countersuit pertaining to touchscreen patents, both of which were lodged in 2010.
Apple and Motorola's patent case was originally to be tried by Judge Barbara Crabb's court in the Western District of Wisconsin, but was transferred to to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois with Judge Posner presiding. An appeals judge for the Seventh Circuit, Posner "enjoys" patent cases, but rarely gets the opportunity due to his position.
Mueller notes that, in the upcoming CAFC appeal, Google is the appellant as far as leveraged FRAND patents, and will challenge Judge Posner's decision to deny injunctive relief. The Internet giant's Motorola subsidiary will also seek to prove an alleged devaluation of its standard essential patents, as the jurist threw out the firm's damages claims as well.
Legal experts believe at least some of Judge Posner's decision will likely be reversed or vacated, especially given the precedent a CAFC ruling will set in regard to FRAND issues.