Gunn v. Minton, No. 11-1118; U.S. Supreme Court; opinion by Roberts, C.J.; decided February 20, 2013. On certiorari to the Supreme Court of Texas.
Petitioner attorneys represented respondent Minton in a federal patent infringement suit. The district court declared Minton’s patent invalid under the "on sale" bar since he had leased his interactive securities trading system to a securities brokerage "more than one year prior to the date of the [patent] application." See 35 U.S.C. § 102(b). In a motion for reconsideration, Minton argued for the first time that the lease was part of ongoing testing, and therefore fell within the "experimental use" exception to the on-sale bar. The district court denied the motion and the Federal Circuit affirmed, concluding that the district court had appropriately held that argument waived.
