Source: https://casetext.com/case/fort-james-corp-v-solo-cup-co
Timestamp: 2019-05-23 09:18:41
Document Index: 311624212

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 102', '§ 1295', '§ 2201', '§ 285', '§ 285', '§ 285', '§ 285', '§ 285', '§ 2291', '§ 102', '§ 2201', '§ 285']

Fort James Corp. v. Solo Cup Co, 412 F.3d 1340 | Casetext
412 F.3d 1340 (Fed. Cir. 2005)
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Fort James Corp.v.Solo Cup Co.
United States Court of Appeals, Federal CircuitJun 22, 2005
Russell E. Levine, Kirkland Ellis LLP, of Chicago, Illinois, argued for plaintiff-appellee. With him on the brief was Christopher R. Liro.
Bradley F. Rademaker, Wallenstein Wagner Rockey, Ltd., of Chicago, Illinois, argued for defendant-appellant. With him on the brief were Linda A. Kuczma and Jeffrey R. Gargano.
In 1999, Fort James brought suit against Solo Cup alleging infringement of three patents related to disposable pressed paperboard containers ( e.g., paper plates) and their methods of manufacture: U.S. Patent Nos. 4,609,140 ("the '140 patent"); 4,606,496 ("the '496 patent"); and 4,721,499 ("the '499 patent"). Solo Cup denied the infringement allegations and counterclaimed for declarations that the patents were invalid, unenforceable, and not infringed. In addition to seeking injunctive relief on its counterclaims, Solo Cup also sought an award of its reasonable attorney fees.
The '496 patent was dropped from the law-suit prior to trial.
On July 15, 2004, Fort James's motion to dismiss was denied by a single judge of this court. Fort James's argument was rejected on the ground that Solo Cup had timely renewed its motion for judgment as a matter of law concerning invalidity pursuant to FRCP 50(b). Solo Cup filed its renewed motion for JMOL on June 26, 2003, within 10 days of the date on which Fort James alleged that judgment was entered. As a motion under FRCP 50(b), Solo Cup's filing tolled the time to appeal until its renewed motion for JMOL was resolved. See Fed.R.App.Proc. 4(A)(i). Because Solo Cup filed its notice of appeal within thirty days of the district court's order denying its Rule 50(b) motion, its appeal was deemed timely.
A district court's determination of whether an actual controversy exists to support jurisdiction is a question of law subject to plenary appellate review. BP Chems. Ltd. v. Union Carbide Corp., 4 F.3d 975, 978 (Fed. Cir. 1993). The district court's factual determinations made in the process of resolving questions of law are reviewed for clear error. Vanguard Research, Inc. v. Peat, Inc., 304 F.3d 1249, 1254 (Fed. Cir. 2002).
This court applies the law of the regional circuit, here the Seventh Circuit, with respect to questions of attorney-client privilege and waiver of attorney-client privilege. GFI, Inc. v. Franklin Corp., 265 F.3d 1268, 1272 (Fed. Cir. 2001). In the Seventh Circuit, applicability of privilege is a factual question subject to a clearly erroneous standard of review. Rehling v. City of Chicago, 207 F.3d 1009, 1019 (7th Cir. 2000).
Fort James reasserts its claim previously resolved by the order of a single judge of this court, namely that Solo Cup's notice of appeal was not timely filed. As an initial matter, we note that Fort James should properly have renewed its jurisdictional challenge by filing a motion to reconsider the single judge's order within fourteen days of its issuance as required by Federal Circuit Rule 27( l). Fort James's failure to comply with Rule 27( l) is not fatal, however, because this court has held that the merits panel is not bound by the action of a single judge. TypeRight Keyboard Corp. v. Microsoft Corp., 374 F.3d 1151, 1157 n. 5 (Fed. Cir. 2004); Fieldturf, Inc. v. Southwest Recreational Indus., Inc., 357 F.3d 1266, 1268 (Fed. Cir. 2004); Nilssen v. Motorola, Inc., 203 F.3d 782, 785 n. 2 (Fed. Cir. 2000). Although the appellee in Nilssen filed a motion for reconsideration, 203 F.3d at 783, there is no indication that the appellees in either TypeRight or Fieldturf complied with the procedural requirement of Rule 27( l). Accordingly, TypeRight and Fieldturf support Fort James's assertion that it is entitled to have its jurisdictional claim heard by the merits panel notwithstanding its failure to comply with Rule 27( l). Without acknowledging the existence of Rule 27( l), Fieldturf states that because a motion to dismiss denied by a single judge does not become law of the case, the panel is "therefore free, indeed obligated" to determine whether jurisdiction is appropriate, 357 F.3d at 1268. In contrast, no precedential opinion has strictly adhered to the provisions of Rule 27( l) to resolve an appellee's challenge to this court's jurisdiction. Given the precedent of TypeRight and Fieldturf and the court's responsibility to police the exercise of its jurisdiction, we conclude that it is best to reach the merits of Fort James's jurisdictional argument despite its limited procedural deficiencies.
Because the sufficiency of post-judgment motions is a procedural matter not unique to patent law, the law of the Seventh Circuit sets the standard by which we judge the adequacy of Solo Cup's Motion to Withdraw. Registration Control Sys., Inc. v. Compusystems, Inc., 922 F.2d 805, 807 (Fed. Cir. 1990). FRCP 7(b)(1) requires that motions "shall state with particularity the grounds therefor." The Seventh Circuit has determined that the rule's standard for particularity means "reasonable specification." Martinez v. Trainor, 556 F.2d 818, 819-20 (7th Cir. 1977). In the process of applying Seventh Circuit law, this court has previously indicated that the particularity requirement should be applied flexibly in recognition of the peculiar circumstances of the case. Registration Control, 922 F.2d at 808. The key issue to be resolved is whether the document filed affords "notice of the grounds and prayer of the motion to both the court and to the opposing party, providing that party with a meaningful opportunity to respond and the court with enough information to process the motion correctly." Id. at 807.
Here, there is no question that Solo Cup's Motion to Withdraw — by itself — did not explain the grounds for its renewed motion for JMOL. Instead, Solo Cup specifically referenced its pending "Motion for Judgment As a Matter of Law That Claim 1 of U.S. Patent No. 4,609,140 is Invalid Under 35 U.S.C. § 102(b)" and requested "consideration of the foregoing pending motion (Court's Docket No. 374)." The motion that Solo Cup cited by name and docket number included five pages of factual and legal arguments in support of Solo Cup's claim for JMOL. When the Motion to Withdraw is read in conjunction with the document specifically referenced therein, there is no question regarding the grounds for the relief demanded. In such circumstances, it is appropriate to consider previously filed documents outside the four corners of the motion in determining whether the particularity requirement of FRCP 7 has been satisfied. Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians v. Wis., 957 F.2d 515, 516-17 (7th Cir. 1992) (holding that a brief filed contemporaneously with a motion fulfills the requirement of FRCP 7(b)(1)); Andreas v. Volkswagen of Am., Inc., 336 F.3d 789, 794 (8th Cir. 2003) (approving a district court's reference to a FRCP 50(a) pleading in determining the sufficiency of a FRCP 50(b) motion); Cambridge Plating Co., Inc. v. Napco, Inc., 85 F.3d 752, 761 (1st Cir. 1996) (rejecting as "overly technical" the district court's premise that the sufficiency of a post-judgment motion should be determined by reference only to the four corners of the motion). When put in context of this particular case, the Motion to Withdraw sufficiently alerted Fort James and the court to the issues Solo Cup was raising. The Motion to Withdraw satisfied the particularity requirement of FRCP 7(b)(1) and constituted a valid Rule 50(b) motion such that Solo Cup's time to appeal did not start running until the motion was finally resolved by the district court. Solo Cup's Notice of Appeal was timely filed and this court has jurisdiction to hear its appeal pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1295(a).
The district court dismissed Solo Cup's counterclaim for a declaration that the '140 patent is unenforceable on the ground that the Post-Verdict Covenant mooted the controversy between the parties. Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2201(a), a declaratory judgment counterclaim may only be brought to resolve an "actual controversy." Intellectual Prop. Dev., Inc. v. TCI Cablevision of Cal., Inc., 248 F.3d 1333, 1340 (Fed. Cir. 2001). In holding that no actual controversy existed here, the district court relied primarily on this court's jurisprudence in Super Sack Manufacturing Corp. v. Chase Packaging Corp., 57 F.3d 1054, 1058 (Fed. Cir. 1995).
In Super Sack, this court stated that "a patentee defending against an action for a declaratory judgment of invalidity can divest the trial court of jurisdiction over the case by filing a covenant not to assert the patent at issue against the putative infringer with respect to any of its past, present, or future acts." Id. at 1058. The rationale applied by the court in Super Sack was that the patentee's covenant not to sue resolved the actual controversy between the parties, i.e., the question of infringement of the subject patent, such that the court no longer had Article III jurisdiction to hear a declaratory judgment action regarding the validity or enforceability of that patent. Id.; Spectronics Corp. v. H.B. Fuller Co., 940 F.2d 631, 635-36 (Fed. Cir. 1991). Here, the district court concluded that in light of the Post-Verdict Covenant there was no actual controversy between the parties capable of resolution by a hearing on the unenforceability of the '140 Patent and therefore Solo Cup's counterclaim was moot.
The district court's literal application of the holding of Super Sack fails to comprehend the unique procedural posture of the instant case. In Super Sack and its progeny, the patentee's covenant not to sue was filed prior to consideration or resolution of the underlying infringement claim. In such circumstances, the promise not to sue obviated any reasonable apprehension that the declaratory judgment plaintiff might have of being held liable for its acts of infringement. Super Sack, 57 F.3d at 1059 (as a result of the patentee's promise not to sue, the declaratory judgment plaintiff "has no cause for concern that it can be held liable for any infringing acts"); Spectronics, 940 F.2d at 636 (the patentee's statement of non-liability made the declaratory judgment plaintiff immune to suit under the claims of the contested patent); see also Intellectual Prop. Dev., 248 F.3d at 1341; Amana Refrigeration, Inc. v. Quadlux, Inc., 172 F.3d 852, 855 (Fed. Cir. 1999). Here, however, the Post-Verdict Covenant had no effect on Fort James's claim for infringement, because that controversy had already been resolved by the jury's verdict. The question then becomes whether the court retained jurisdiction to hear Solo Cup's declaratory judgment counterclaim after the jury determined that Solo Cup's products do not infringe Fort James's patents.
As the Supreme Court has explained, a case or controversy adequate to support jurisdiction of a declaratory judgment counterclaim necessarily exists if a party has actually been charged with infringement of a patent. Cardinal Chem. Co. v. Morton Int'l, Inc., 508 U.S. 83, 95, 113 S.Ct. 1967, 124 L.Ed.2d 1 (1993). Furthermore, a counterclaim questioning the validity or enforceability of a patent raises issues beyond the initial claim for infringement that are not disposed of by a decision of non-infringement. Id. at 96, 113 S.Ct. 1967; Altvater v. Freeman, 319 U.S. 359, 364, 63 S.Ct. 1115, 87 L.Ed. 1450 (1943). Accordingly, the jury verdict holding that Solo Cup did not infringe Fort James's patents did not moot Solo Cup's counterclaim for unenforceability nor did it act to divest the district court of jurisdiction to hear that unlitigated counterclaim. See Fin Control Sys. Pty, Ltd. v. OAM, Inc., 265 F.3d 1311, 1321 (Fed. Cir. 2001) (holding that despite the district court's determination of no infringement, it was obligated to consider and rule on defendant's counterclaims of invalidity and unenforceability prior to entering judgment); Gen. Elec. Co. v. Nintendo Co., Ltd., 179 F.3d 1350, 1356 (Fed. Cir. 1999) (stating that "our affirmance of a district court's judgment of noninfringement does not, by itself, moot the declaratory judgment claim of invalidity"). The district court erred as a matter of law in holding that it did not have jurisdiction to hear Solo Cup's counterclaim. The case is remanded for resolution of the issues properly before the court prior to its order to bifurcate, namely Solo Cup's claims of unenforceability on the basis of inequitable conduct and its request for attorney fees pursuant to 35 U.S.C. § 285.
Paragon Podiatry Lab., Inc. v. KLM Labs., Inc., 984 F.2d 1182, 1188 n. 6 (Fed. Cir. 1993); Buildex Inc. v. Kason Indus., Inc., 849 F.2d 1461, 1466 (Fed. Cir. 1988).
Fort James argues that Solo Cup failed to preserve its claim for attorney fees under § 285 by not raising the issue properly before the district court. This argument ignores the fact that Solo Cup expressly requested attorney fees as a remedy for its counterclaim and that the parties' pre-trial briefings identified as an issue for trial the question of whether Solo Cup was entitled to such an award pursuant to § 285. Section 285 grants the district court the power to award attorney fees in exceptional cases, but it places no procedural limitations on the court's ability to make such an award provided that it has jurisdiction over the case. Sun-Tek Indus., Inc. v. Kennedy Sky Lites, Inc., 929 F.2d 676, 678 (Fed. Cir. 1991) (deeming a grant of attorney fees under 35 U.S.C. § 285 made "long after final judgment was entered" to be "a nullity"); cf. Fed.R.Civ.P. 54(d)(2) (requiring that motions for attorney fees be filed no later than 14 days after entry of judgment). Under the circumstances, we see no reason to deny the district court the power to consider Solo Cup's claim for attorney fees pursuant to § 285.
The widely applied standard for determining the scope of a waiver of attorney-client privilege is that the waiver applies to all other communications relating to the same subject matter. Genentech, Inc. v. U.S. Int'l Trade Comm'n, 122 F.3d 1409, 1416 (Fed. Cir. 1997); In re Grand Jury Proceedings, 78 F.3d 251, 255 (6th Cir. 1996); In re Cont'l Ill. Sec. Litig., 732 F.2d 1302, 1314 n. 18 (7th Cir. 1984). The waiver extends beyond the document initially produced out of concern for fairness, so that a party is prevented from disclosing communications that support its position while simultaneously concealing communications that do not. Weil v. Inv./Indicators, Research Mgmt., Inc., 647 F.2d 18, 24 (9th Cir. 1981) (quoting VIII J. Wigmore, Evidence § 2291, at 636 (McNaughton rev. 1961) for the proposition that fairness dictates that a privilege holder "cannot be allowed, after disclosing as much as he pleases, to withhold the remainder"); Abbott Labs. v. Baxter Travenol Labs., Inc., 676 F.Supp. 831, 832 (N.D.Ill. 1987). There is no bright line test for determining what constitutes the subject matter of a waiver, rather courts weigh the circumstances of the disclosure, the nature of the legal advice sought and the prejudice to the parties of permitting or prohibiting further disclosures. See In re Keeper of the Records XYZ Corp., 348 F.3d 16, 23 (1st Cir. 2003) (stating that case law is of limited assistance in determining the scope of a waiver because of the fact-intensive nature of the issues presented); Eco Mfg. LLC v. Honeywell Int'l, Inc., No. 1:03-cv-0170, 2003 WL 1888988, at *2, 2003 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7257, at *5 (S.D.Ind. Apr. 11, 2003) (citing U.S. v. Skeddle, 989 F.Supp. 917, 919 (N.D.Ohio 1997)).
The district court committed two errors in denying Solo Cup's motion to compel production of Document 99. First, it failed to recognize the import of Fort James's knowing disclosure of privileged documents to a third party, conduct which acts as a surrender of the privilege protection. Burden-Meeks v. Welch, 319 F.3d 897, 899 (7th Cir. 2003). If the additional documents produced by Fort James involved subject matter beyond the applicability of the on-sale bar mentioned in JR0028487, then Fort James should have redacted those portions of the documents produced. A party's failure to protect its privilege can result in a loss of that privilege. Dellwood Farms, Inc. v. Cargill, Inc., 128 F.3d 1122, 1126 (7th Cir. 1997). Although admirable, Fort James's stated desire to avoid court intervention in the discovery process would not entitle it to dodge the consequences of any careless disclosures. The court erred in concluding that the additional documents produced by Fort James were not relevant to its determination of the scope of Fort James's privilege waiver.
The Supreme Court has articulated a two-prong test for determining whether § 102(b) bars patentability: 1) the product must be the subject of a commercial offer for sale; and 2) the invention must be ready for patenting. Pfaff v. Wells Elec. Inc., 525 U.S. 55, 67, 119 S.Ct. 304, 142 L.Ed.2d 261 (1998). The second prong of this test necessarily implicates the conception and reduction to practice or enablement of the invention. Id. at 67-68, 119 S.Ct. 304. Accordingly, Fort James's waiver encompassed not only communications involving commercial sales of the claimed invention, but also communications concerning the inventor's recognition and development of the invention. It would be unfair to permit Fort James to rely on favorable legal opinions, but protect the communications on which those opinions depend. See In re Martin Marietta Corp., 856 F.2d 619, 623 (4th Cir. 1988) (stating that "if a client communicates information to his attorney with the understanding that the information will be revealed to others, that information as well as `the details underlying the data which was to be published' will not enjoy the privilege" (quoting United States v. (Under Seal), 748 F.2d 871, 875 (4th Cir. 1984)); United States v. Woodall, 438 F.2d 1317, 1324 (5th Cir. 1970) ("a client's offer of his own or his attorney's testimony as to a specific communication constitutes a waiver as to all other communications on the same subject matter"); BASF Aktiengesellschaft v. Reilly Indus., Inc., 283 F.Supp.2d 1000, 1003 (S.D.Ind. 2003) (requiring the production of all documents exchanged regarding the subject matter of the produced legal opinion); Blackhawk Molding Co., Inc. v. Portola Packaging, Inc., No. 03-C-6060, 2004 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 19850 (N.D.Ill. Sept. 30, 2004) (construing production of legal opinions concerning a patent's validity and enforceability to waive privilege on communications regarding claim construction on which the validity and enforceability opinions necessarily rely); Motorola, Inc. v. Vosi Techs., Inc., No. 01-C-4182, 2002 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15655 (N.D.Ill. Aug. 19, 2002) (holding that a party's desire to rely on counsel's opinions regarding validity requires it to disclose all pre-suit communications of counsel that include construction of the same patents). Document 99 was drafted well before the filing of the patent application and concerns the conception and reduction to practice of the claimed invention, matters that are directly related to the on sale bar to patentability. We hold that the district court committed clear error in determining that Fort James's waiver of privilege did not encompass Document 99.
The Declaratory Judgment Act states that "any court of the United States, upon the filing of an appropriate pleading, may declare the rights and other legal relations of any interested party seeking such declaration," provided there exists "a case of actual controversy within its jurisdiction." 28 U.S.C. § 2201(a) (2000). The statute requires a court to determine whether "there is a substantial controversy, between parties having adverse legal interests, of sufficient immediacy and reality to warrant the issuance of declaratory judgment." Md. Cas. Co. v. Pac. Coal Oil Co., 312 U.S. 270, 273, 61 S.Ct. 510, 85 L.Ed. 826 (1941). In determining whether such a controversy exists with respect to claims for patent-based declaratory relief, we have developed a two-part test under which:
BP Chems. Ltd. v. Union Carbide Corp., 4 F.3d 975, 978 (Fed. Cir. 1993); see also Teva Pharm. USA, Inc. v. Pfizer, Inc., 395 F.3d 1324, 1332 (Fed. Cir. 2005). "The element of threat or reasonable apprehension of suit turns on the conduct of the patentee, while the infringement element depends on the conduct of the asserted infringer." BP Chems., 4 F.3d at 978.
A party seeking a declaratory judgment bears the burden of establishing the existence of an actual controversy. Sierra Applied Scis. v. Advanced Energy Indus., Inc., 363 F.3d 1361, 1373 (Fed. Cir. 2004). Moreover, the "actual controversy must be extant at all stages of review, not merely at the time the complaint is filed." Preiser v. Newkirk, 422 U.S. 395, 401, 95 S.Ct. 2330, 45 L.Ed.2d 272 (1975). Accordingly, the declaratory-judgment plaintiff has the burden of establishing that "jurisdiction over its declaratory judgment action existed at, and has continued since, the time the [counterclaim] was filed." Super Sack Mfg. Corp. v. Chase Packaging Corp., 57 F.3d 1054, 1058 (Fed. Cir. 1995) (citation omitted); Sierra Applied Scis., 363 F.3d at 1373. We have therefore held that a patentee may divest a court of subject matter jurisdiction over an accused infringer's declaratory judgment action by covenanting not to sue the accused infringer for past or present acts of infringement. Amana Refrigeration, Inc. v. Quadlux, Inc., 172 F.3d 852, 855-56 (Fed. Cir. 1999); Super Sack, 57 F.3d at 1059-60.
On appeal, we affirmed the district court's decision to dismiss the case for lack of jurisdiction. We reasoned that, in view of Super Sack's covenant not to sue, "Chase can have no reasonable apprehension that it will face an infringement suit on the '796 and '652 patents with respect to past and present products," and that Chase's counterclaims therefore "fail to satisfy the first part of our two-part test of justiciability [of claims for declaratory judgment]." Id. at 1059. At the same time, we rejected Chase's argument that a case or controversy persisted because Super Sack's covenant did not apply to products developed in the future. In doing so, we pointed out that "the second part of our test of declaratory justiciability respecting patent rights requires that the putative infringer's ` present activity' place it at risk of infringement liability." Id. (quoting BP Chems., 4 F.3d at 978) (emphasis in original).
In this case, I understand the court to recognize that, under the holding of Super Sack, "a patentee defending against an action for a declaratory judgment of invalidity can divest the trial court of jurisdiction over the case by filing a covenant not to assert the patent at issue against the putative infringer with respect to any of its past, present, or future acts." 57 F.3d at 1058. The court holds, however, that Fort James's covenant did not divest the trial court of subject-matter jurisdiction in this particular case. According to the court, that is because "the Post-Verdict Covenant had no effect on Fort James's claim for infringement, because that controversy had already been resolved by the jury's verdict." In other words, the court reasons that the rationale of Super Sack does not apply if the patentee issues a covenant not to sue after a finding of non-infringement.
As discussed, the actual holding of Super Sack was that a covenant not to sue for past or present acts of infringement is sufficient to divest the court of subject-matter jurisdiction. 57 F.3d at 1059.
The court states that the Supreme Court decided in Cardinal Chemical Co. v. Morton International, Inc., 508 U.S. 83, 95, 113 S.Ct. 1967, 124 L.Ed.2d 1 (1993), that "a case or controversy adequate to support jurisdiction of a declaratory judgment counterclaim necessarily exists if a party has actually been charged with infringement of a patent." Relying on Cardinal Chemical, 508 U.S. at 96, 113 S.Ct. 1967, Altvater v. Freeman, 319 U.S. 359, 364, 63 S.Ct. 1115, 87 L.Ed. 1450 (1943), Fin Control Systems Pty, Ltd. v. OAM, Inc., 265 F.3d 1311, 1321 (Fed. Cir. 2001), and General Electric Co. v. Nintendo Co., Ltd., 179 F.3d 1350, 1356 (Fed. Cir. 1999), the court states that the jury verdict of non-infringement did not moot the case because claims of unenforceability and invalidity raise issues beyond those presented by the infringement claim.
It is true that this case differs from Super Sack in that Fort James did not issue its covenant until after the jury's finding of non-infringement, but I do not think that fact creates or, rather, sustains, the controversy between the parties. That is because, while the timing of the covenant may seem unfair to Solo Cup, the fact remains that Solo Cup is no longer at risk of liability for infringement of the '140 patent. Indeed, the situation in Super Sack actually presented more of a controversy than this case because, there, the defendant still faced the risk of infringement based on future activity, see Super Sack, 57 F.3d at 1059 (acknowledging that the defendant "may have some cause to fear an infringement suit" based on products to be developed in the future), whereas in this case, the '140 patent has expired. Solo Cup therefore faces no risk of liability for infringement of the '140 patent. A decision as to the enforceability of the '140 patent would consequently have no effect on the legal relationship of the parties, i.e., Solo Cup's claim of unenforceability is moot. See DeFunis v. Odegaard, 416 U.S. 312, 316-17, 94 S.Ct. 1704, 40 L.Ed.2d 164 (1974) (holding that the case was moot because the Court could no longer provide meaningful relief); North Carolina v. Rice, 404 U.S. 244, 246, 92 S.Ct. 402, 30 L.Ed.2d 413 (1971) ("[F]ederal courts are without power to decide questions that cannot affect the rights of litigants in the case before them."); Powell v. McCormack, 395 U.S. 486, 496, 89 S.Ct. 1944, 23 L.Ed.2d 491 (1969) ("A case is moot when the issues presented are no longer `live' or the parties lack a legally cognizable interest in the outcome.").
Claims for attorney's fees are collateral to the underlying lawsuit for which the fees are sought. Budinich v. Becton Dickinson Co., 486 U.S. 196, 200-01, 108 S.Ct. 1717, 100 L.Ed.2d 178 (1988) (holding that an attorney's fee award is separate from a trial court's decision on the merits for purposes of the time limits set for appeals under Fed.R.App.P. 4); Sprague v. Ticonic Nat'l Bank, 307 U.S. 161, 170, 59 S.Ct. 777, 83 L.Ed. 1184 (1939) (indicating that motions for attorney's fees are "independent proceeding[s] supplemental to the original proceeding and not a request for a modification of the original decree"). The issue of attorney's fees is consequently distinct from, and has no effect on, the question of whether a case has become moot. See Zucker v. Occidental Petroleum Corp., 192 F.3d 1323, 1329 (9th Cir. 1999) ("No Article III case or controversy is needed with regard to attorney's fees . . . because they are but an ancillary matter over which the district court retains equitable jurisdiction even when the underlying case is moot." (emphasis added)).
My view that there is no longer a live controversy in this case is also unaffected by the fact that it was Fort James that requested the trial court bifurcate the unenforceability claim from the infringement and invalidity claims. I acknowledge that it may seem unfair to allow a patentee to first proceed with its infringement claim and then, if the result is not favorable, eliminate the court's jurisdiction over the accused infringer's counterclaim by covenanting not to sue the accused infringer. Fairness is not part of the jurisdictional inquiry, however. See Hercules Inc. v. United States, 516 U.S. 417, 430, 116 S.Ct. 981, 134 L.Ed.2d 47 (1996) ("[W]e are constrained by our limited jurisdiction and may not entertain claims `based merely on equitable considerations.'" (citation omitted)). Rather, federal courts must determine whether there is an actual case or controversy, i.e., whether "there is a substantial controversy, between parties having adverse legal interests, of sufficient immediacy and reality to warrant the issuance of declaratory judgment." Md. Cas. Co., 312 U.S. at 273, 61 S.Ct. 510. If a case is found to lack such a controversy, then the court's only choice is to dismiss the case.
This is not to say that Fort James's overall litigation conduct could not be used by Solo Cup in trying to establish the existence of an "exceptional case" in a timely motion for attorney's fees under 35 U.S.C. § 285. See Zucker, 192 F.3d at 1329 (holding that a trial court still has jurisdiction to entertain motions for attorney's fees after the underlying action has become moot); see also Gator.Com Corp. v. L.L. Bean, Inc., 398 F.3d 1125, 1133 n. 1 (9th Cir. 2005) ( en banc) (Tashima, J., concurring).