Fed. Circ.'s Thermostat Ruling Holds Patent Jury Trial Lessons

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit vacated the $11.5 million verdict in Ollnova Technologies Ltd. v. Ecobee Technologies ULC and sent the case back to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas for a new trial. Skadden partner Bijal V. Vakil discusses how the decision confirms that infringement questions on a verdict form must be separated by patent, not combined into a single “any patent” question, and sends an important message on patent subject matter eligibility: If a jury is asked to decide an Alice issue, it must be told what abstract idea the court has identified and that the abstract idea itself cannot be the inventive concept.