Proskauer to Argue Patent Case Before Supreme Court

April 7, 2014 (Washington, D.C., New York and Boston) – Proskauer announced today that it will argue a key patent law case before the United States Supreme Court on Monday, April 28, urging the Justices to affirm a decision by the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. The case, Nautilus, Inc. v. Biosig Instruments, Inc., will consider the standard for clarity in patent claims.

Proskauer’s client, Biosig, won at the Federal Circuit, which had sent the case back to the district court in a ruling supporting its patent claim for heart-rate-monitor technology. According to a March 26 brief filed by Proskauer on behalf of Biosig: “The Federal Circuit held that a patent claim satisfies the definiteness requirement of 35 U.S.C. § 112, ¶ 2 so long as a person skilled in the art would be able to discern its meaning from the intrinsic evidence in the patent—the claim language, the specification and the prosecution history.” The U.S. Solicitor General has filed a brief in support of Biosig’s position.

Arguing on behalf of Biosig will be Proskauer Appellate Group co-head Mark Harris (New York). On the brief with him are Proskauer’s Litigation Department co-chair Steven Bauer (Boston), Proskauer’s Patent Law Group co-head James Shalek (New York) and Litigation Associates Anthony Cataldo, Jinnie Reed and John Roberts.

Proskauer’s Appellate Group has secured a series of important wins on behalf of clients in recent years, including three Supreme Court wins in the last five years (involving major copyright, labor and criminal sentencing issues), as well as cases in other appellate courts concerning the extraterritorial application of New York State and New York City human-rights laws; the effect of the antitrust laws on sports leagues; class-wide relief for Social Security recipients; the right to child support involving same-sex partners; and ERISA, employment and patent cases.

Proskauer’s Patent Law Group represents clients across the broad spectrum of patent needs, including litigation, contested patent-office proceedings, patent prosecution and intellectual property-related transactions and strategic counseling. The group, with over 50 technically-trained attorneys, is based in Proskauer’s offices in Boston, New York and Los Angeles.

The case is Nautilus Inc. v. Biosig Instruments Inc., No. 13-369, in the U.S. Supreme Court.

About Proskauer

Founded in 1875, Proskauer is a global law firm serving clients’ critical legal needs from offices in Beijing, Boca Raton, Boston, Chicago, Hong Kong, London, Los Angeles, New Orleans, New York, Newark, Paris, São Paulo and Washington, DC. Additional information about the firm can be found at www.proskauer.com.