Agfa Corp. v. Creo Prods. Inc.: Did the Court's Decision Change a Patentee's Right to a Jury Trial on the Issue of Inequitable Conduct?

In <i>Agfa Corp. v. Creo Prods. Inc.</i>, 451 F.3d 1366 (Fed. Cir. 2006), a non-unanimous panel of the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ('CAFC') issued an opinion affirming a district court's decision to conduct a bench trial on the defense of inequitable conduct, in spite of the patentee's request for a jury trial, prior to holding a jury trial on patent infringement, patent invalidity, and all other issues in the case. The dissenting member of the panel disagreed with the majority's decision that the patentee in this case did not have a right to a jury trial on the issue of inequitable conduct and suggested that the CAFC majority opinion in <i>Agfa</i> changed precedent established in a prior decision. In deciding <i>Agfa</i>, the majority analyzed the CAFC's decision in <i>Gardco Mfg. v. Herst Lighting Co.</i>, 820 F.2d 1209 (Fed. Cir. 1987) and determined that it applied to the case in <i>Agfa</i>. The majority also distinguished the CAFC decision in <i>In re Lockwood</i>, 50 F.3d 966 (Fed. Cir. 1995), <i>vacated</i>, 515 U.S. 1182 (1995), as inapplicable to the equitable issue in question in <i>Agfa</i>. Conversely, the dissenting panel member argued that the CAFC's decision in <i>Lockwood</i> was indeed applicable to the issues in Agfa. This article reviews the above cases with the goal of determining if the CAFC decision in <i>Agfa</i> is indeed a departure from its previous jurisprudence concerning a patentee's right to a jury trial on the issue of equitable conduct.

30 minute read September 28, 2006 at 03:45 PM

By

Dion Messer