A Blog About Intellectual Property Litigation and the District of Delaware


Entries for tag: Preemption

Federal Courts is one of those classes that everyone has a tumultuous relationship with. My own professor on the subject continues to vex me by running a rival legal blog. Like Boat News before them, they shall be long forgotten to history whilst IP/DE reigns ascendant. Their name spoken only by those frightened few who stumbled upon their dark and damp remains.

Perhaps they can still pivot to video
Perhaps they can still pivot to video NOAA, Unsplash

In any event, while issues of federalism, preemption, and the like do not often rear their heads in my practice, they often spawn an interesting opinion when they do. Case in point, Judge Fallon's opinion in Convatec, Inc. v. HR Pharms., Inc., C.A. No. 24-1248-RGA-SRF (D. Del …

Bitcoin
Dmitry Demidko, Unsplash

Judge Burke issued an R&R today on two things we don't see very often: a successful motion for judgment on the pleadings, and preemption of state law claims by federal patent law.

The case, Bear Box LLC v. Lancium LLC, C.A. No. 21-534-MN-CJB (D. Del.), involves a patent on more-energy-efficient cryptocurrency mining systems. One of the plaintiffs claims to have met one of the defendants at a conference and, later, confidentially disclosed his ideas for improved cryptocurrency mining. Then, he says, the defendants patented his ideas.

According to the Court, plaintiffs brought two correction-of-inventorship claims, plus three state law claims:

  • Conversion ("theft of inventions")
  • Unjust enrichment (claiming inventorship of plaintiff's invention) …