Patent Law | Expert Legal Commentary
October 2, 2009
Cardiac Pacemakers v. St. Jude: Section 271(f) Does Not Apply to Method Claims
Cardiac Pacemakers Inc. v. St. Jude Medical Inc.
By
Yuri Mikulka and Spyros J. Lazaris
Following the lead of the U.S. Supreme Court in its 2007 Microsoft Corp. v. AT&T Corp. decision, the Federal Circuit ruled that 35 U.S.C. Section 217(f) is not applicable to method claims. In Cardiac Pacemakers, the Court expressly overruled its own previous controversial decision in Union Carbide, finding that Section 217(f) requires the transfer of tangible physical objects. Cardiac Pacemakers Inc. v. St. Jude Medical Inc., ___ F.3d ___, 2009 WL 2516346, No.’s 2007-1296 and 2007-1347 (Fed. Cir., Aug. 19, 2009) Since method patents have no tangible components, the statute cannot apply. Moreover, the court found that the presumption against extraterritorial application of U.S. law weighed against the application of the statute to method and process claims.
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