Jerry W. Gunn, et al., Petitioners v. Vernon F. Minton (568 U.S. 251)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided February 20, 2013 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 568 U.S. 251 · 133 S. Ct. 1059
- Decided
- February 20, 2013
- Term
- October Term 2012
- Vote
- 9–0
- Majority author
- Justice Roberts
- Issue area
- Federalism
- Disposition
- Reversed and remanded
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
Opinion excerpt
Chief Justice Roberts delivered the opinion of the Court. Federal courts have exclusive jurisdiction over cases “arising under any Act of Congress relating to patents.” 28 U. S. C. § 1338(a). The question presented is whether a state law claim alleging legal malpractice in the handling of a patent case must be brought in federal court. I In the early 1990⅛, respondent Vernon Minton developed a computer program and telecommunications network designed to facilitate securities trading. In March 1995, he leased the system—known as the Texas Computer Exchange Network, or TEXCEN—to R. M. Stark & Co., a securities brokerage. A little over a year later, he applied for a patent for an interactive securities trading system that was based substantially on TEXCEN. The U. S. Patent and Trademark Office issued the patent in January 2000. Patent in hand, Minton filed a patent infringement suit in Federal District Court against the National Association of Securities Dealers, Inc. (NASD), and the NASDAQ Stock Market, Inc. He was represented by Jerry Gunn and the other petitioners. NASD and NASDAQ moved for summary judgment on the ground that Minton’s patent was invalid under the “on sale” bar, 35 U. S. C. § 102(b). That provision specifies that an inventor is not entitled to a patent if “the invention was ... on sale in [the United States], more than one year prior to the date of the…
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