TYPERIGHT KEYBOARD CORPORATION v. MICROSOFT CORPORATION (Fed. Cir. June 6, 2004).
Plaintiff TypeRight appealed the district court’s summary judgment based on invalidity of its patented ergonomic keyboards. (U.S. Patent 5,372,441 and 5,503,484). Additionally, Microsoft cross-appealed the district court’s dismissal (without prejudice) of its claims for non-infringement.
First, the court dismissed the cross-appeal for lack of jurisdiction.
A party that is not adversely affected by a judgment lacks standing to appeal. . . . Because Microsoft’s rights under the judgment of invalidity are actually broader than its rights would be under a judgment of non-infringement, Microsoft has not been adversely affected by the district court’s judgment. Because there is no jurisdiction for the cross-appeal, we dismiss the cross-appeal
Next, the appellate panel reversed the finding of invalidity and remanded the case.
Summary judgment should not be denied simply because the opposing party asserts that the movant’s witnesses are not to be believed. However, summary judgment is not appropriate where the opposing party offers specific facts that call into question the credibility of the movant’s witnesses.
Here, TypeRight pointed to specific facts that tend to discredit the testimony of [Microsoft’s witnesses]. These facts create a genuine issue as to the credibility of Microsoft’s witnesses. Thus, while the evidence is sufficient to support a jury finding that the [] document is prior art, a reasonable jury could ultimately conclude otherwise. In such circumstances, “[t]he court may not assess the credibility of testimony when granting summary judgment.”