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Judge does not allow complainant to move for summary determination against its own interests

3/19/2017

 
Complainant CGI brought a case before the International Trade Commission (ITC), alleging infringement of U.S. Patent Nos. 7,161,319, 7,196,611, and 7,339,336 by various respondents.  The administrative law judge (ALJ) hearing the case issued a claim construction order that was clearly not in CGI's fovor.

CGI's goal was to get the interlocutory claim construction order overturned by obtaining a commission review. To do this, you would typically have to get the ALJ to sign off on the a request, which is a very unlikely occurrence. The other way you could obtain an interlocutory review is via a motion for a summary determination. The problem here was that the alleged infringers/respondents did not file one.  

CGI had the crazy idea to file its own motion for summary determination, essentially arguing that the the accused devices did not infringe their own patents (bear in mind that CGI brought the case for infringement to the ITC in the first place).

The ALJ (Judge Pender) ruled that a party seeking Commission review of an interlocutory claim construction order cannot bring a motion for summary determination against its own interests. More specifically, 
19 C.F.R. § 210.18, which governs motions for summary determination, only permits a party to move for summary determination “in its favor.”

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