Opinion ID: 434780
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Ninth Circuit Decision

Text: 69 The decision of the Ninth Circuit is entitled to great deference under the law of the case doctrine. See Central Soya Co. v. Geo. A. Hormel & Co., 723 F.2d 1573, 1580, 220 USPQ 490, 495 (Fed.Cir.1983). That doctrine ensures judicial efficiency and prevents endless litigation. Id. Its elementary logic is matched by elementary fairness--a litigant given one good bite at the apple should not have a second. 70 Here, Computervision has had an eminently fair chance to litigate the infringement issue. The issue was presented to the jury, to the trial judge on Perkin-Elmer's motion, and to the Ninth Circuit on direct appeal, on petition for rehearing, and in a suggestion for rehearing in banc. Computervision prevailed in the first two instances and lost in the last three. In those circumstances, there is no basis to relitigate infringement. 71 We recognize that a court that established the law of a case could elect to review its earlier decision and change it if one of three exceptional circumstances exist: (1) the evidence on subsequent trial was substantially different; (2) controlling authority has intervened; or (3) the earlier decision was clearly erroneous and would work a manifest injustice. Central Soya, supra, 723 F.2d at 1580, 220 USPQ at 495. Revisions in the law of the case occur very infrequently when an appellate court is asked to review the decision of a coordinate court. 1B Moore's Federal Practice p 0.404 [4.-5 at 138]. 72 Arguing the clearly erroneous/manifest injustice exception, described by our predecessor court as stringent, and as requiring a strong showing of clear error, Short v. United States, 661 F.2d 150, 154, 228 Ct.Cl. 535 (1981), Computervision would have us review the Ninth Circuit decision on its merits. The decision to review is a threshold consideration, for only on full review can a court determine whether the decision reviewed was clearly erroneous and produced a manifest injustice. To obtain review, an appellant must make at least a prima facie showing of error sufficient to indicate the advisability of review. A mere suspicion of error will not suffice; we must be convinced to a certainty that error warranting review exists. Id. Computervision has made no such convincing showing. 73 Computervision says the Ninth Circuit did not consider the claim language and the prior art. However, the Ninth Circuit had before it the claims, the prior art, and the parties' briefs and arguments. That the court did not specifically mention the claims and prior art in its opinion forms no basis for an assumption that it did not consider those elements in determining that the CA-3000 printer was an equivalent. That a court do[es] not discuss certain propositions do[es] not make the decision inadequate or suggest the ... court failed to understand them. Schilling v. Schwitzer-Cummins Co., 142 F.2d 82, 84, 61 USPQ 73, 75 (D.C.Cir.1944). Moreover, [w]e should never assume that a court of concurrent jurisdiction neglected to perform its duty. Skil Corp. v. Millers Falls Co., 541 F.2d 554, 557, 191 USPQ 548, 550 (6th Cir.), cert. den. 429 U.S. 1029, 97 S.Ct. 653, 50 L.Ed.2d 631 (1976). 74 In an effort to show that the Ninth Circuit did not understand the technology, Computervision says one of the two differences the court found (wider placement of the convex and concave mirrors) does not exist because the mirrors are spaced the same in both systems. That error, however, would, if anything, have favored Computervision because it would have increased the court's perceived differences from one to two. Computervision has not made a prima facie showing that the finding of an allegedly non-existent difference constituted clear error producing manifest injustice.