AIPLA Files Amicus Brief with the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Google LLC v. Sonos, Inc.

Arlington, VA. February 29, 2024 - The American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA) filed an amicus brief in support of neither party with the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Google LLC v. Sonos, Inc., a case on appeal from the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. The district court held that the post-GATT patents-in-suit are unenforceable under the doctrine of prosecution laches and found unreasonable and inexcusable delay where 13 years had elapsed between the provisional patent application and presenting the claims at issue.

AIPLA’s brief seeks clarity on what constitutes an unreasonable and inexcusable delay in prosecuting patent applications when applying the doctrine of prosecution laches. In particular, AIPLA’s brief expresses concerns that the district court’s treatment of the laches defense, if applied in other cases, could encroach upon the statutory rights of patent applicants to file continuation or divisional applications within the 20-year patent term.

Finally, AIPLA’s brief urges the Federal Circuit to confirm that the standard of proof for prosecution laches is clear and convincing evidence, in accordance with long-standing Supreme Court precedent, as doing so will greatly help the district courts in consistently applying the prosecution laches doctrine.