A multioffice team of Greenberg Traurig, LLP intellectual property (IP) litigators won a complete victory for The Charles Schwab Corporation and TD Ameritrade, Inc. (Schwab) with a May 16 judgment from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit that rejects Island Intellectual Property LLC's (Island) bid to revive the patent infringement claims it filed in 2021.
NEW YORK, May 21, 2024 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- A multioffice team of Greenberg Traurig, LLP intellectual property (IP) litigators won a complete victory for The Charles Schwab Corporation and TD Ameritrade, Inc. (Schwab) with a May 16 judgment from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit that rejects Island Intellectual Property LLC's (Island) bid to revive the patent infringement claims it filed in 2021.
The federal circuit affirmed a rare decision from the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas in which the court held that all the claims in the three patents asserted by Island were invalid as unpatentable under 35 U.S.C. §101. The federal circuit issued a Rule 36 affirmance without opinion, only one week after the oral argument.
"From the outset, we believed that Island IP's allegations were meritless, and we are gratified that both the EDTX and the Federal Circuit agreed," said Scott J. Bornstein, who led the Greenberg Traurig team in the matter. Bornstein is senior vice president of Greenberg Traurig, co-chair of the firm's Global Intellectual Property & Technology Practice and the Global Patent Litigation Group, and co-managing shareholder of Greenberg Traurig's New York office.
Island filed the lawsuit against Schwab in 2021, alleging that the company infringed five patents generally relating to aggregated deposit accounts. Island dropped two of the patents in view of Schwab's substantial defenses but elected to continue litigating the remaining three patents.
The suit against Schwab was one of many lawsuits filed by Island in the last 15 years against various prominent financial services companies asserting infringement of the patents-in-suit. After concluding that the assertions by Island were without merit, Schwab chose to defend itself rather than settle.
On July 15, 2022, Schwab moved for summary judgment of invalidity, asserting that Island's three remaining patents were invalid because they do not claim patent-eligible subject matter. On Sept. 28, Magistrate Judge Payne issued a Report and Recommendation granting Schwab's motion for summary judgment in its entirety. On Nov. 17, 2022, the court overruled Island's objections to the Report and Recommendation and ordered that Schwab's motion for summary judgment be granted, invalidating all asserted Island patent claims.
"In doing so, the court held that 'the only technical aspect of the claims relates to generic computer functionality, not any technical issue outside the realm of [the claims'] abstract ideas,' validating that Island's patents did not describe any patentable improvements. I am pleased that we persuaded the district court and federal circuit that they were correct," said Greenberg Traurig Shareholder Nicholas A. Brown, who argued the appeal May 9.
The Greenberg Traurig team in the matter also included Shareholders Julie P. Bookbinder, Richard C. Pettus, and Stephen M. Ullmer; Of Counsels Janis E. Clements, Elana B. Araj, and Vimal M. Kapadia; and Associates Danielle Zapata and Maja E. Sherman. Local counsel was Melissa R. Smith, a partner at Gillam & Smith, LLP.
About Greenberg Traurig: Greenberg Traurig, LLP has more than 2750 attorneys in 47 locations in the United States, Europe and the Middle East, Latin America, and Asia. The firm is a 2022 BTI "Highly Recommended Law Firm" for superior client service and is consistently among the top firms on the Am Law Global 100 and NLJ 500. Greenberg Traurig is Mansfield Rule 6.0 Certified Plus by The Diversity Lab. The firm is recognized for powering its U.S. offices with 100% renewable energy as certified by the Center for Resource Solutions Green-e® Energy program and is a member of the U.S. EPA's Green Power Partnership Program. The firm is known for its philanthropic giving, innovation, diversity, and pro bono. Web: http://www.gtlaw.com.
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