The Federal Circuit held that collateral estoppel (issue preclusion) precluded Soverain’s lawsuit against Victoria’s Secret. In a prior appeal involving Newegg, the Federal Circuit held that the claims-at-issue in the present case were obvious. Soverain contended that it did not have a full and fair opportunity to litigate the issue of obviousness in the prior Newegg action, because it did not have the incentive to fully litigate the issue of non-obviousness on appeal, because it claims it would have raised different arguments in the Newegg appeal if it had known that the Federal Circuit might reverse the district court rather than only grant a new trial. The court, however, held that that fact that Soverain had arguments which it did not make does not mean that Soverain lacked the incentive to make them.
Soverain Software LLC v. Victoria’s Secret Direct Brand Management, LLC, Case No. 2012-1649, -1650 (February 12, 2015); Opinion by: Dyk, joined by Taranto and Hughes; Appealed From: District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, Davis, J. Read the full opinion here.
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