It's Too Late - Court Rebuffs Licensee's Intervention Attempt

Case: Ericsson, Inc. v. Interdigital Comm. Corp., 04-1484 (Fed. Cir. 8/4/05)

The One Sentence Summary: The Federal Circuit reversed rulings allowing a licensee to intervene, and reinstating intermediate rulings on claim construction and infringement, in a patent infringement suit between the licensor and a competitor, where intervention was sought after the case settled and was dismissed with prejudice.

Federal Circuit Holdings:

• The would-be intervenor, Nokia Corporation, waited until after the parties to the suit had settled and dismissed their claims with prejudice, to seek leave to intervene pursuant to Rule 24(b)(2). Nokia also moved to have intermediate rulings on claim construction and infringement, which had been vacated (and sealed), reinstated.
  
• The district court granted Nokia's motion, allowing it to intervene, giving it access to the sealed orders, and then, pursuant to Rule 60(b), reinstating its prior orders.
  
• On appeal, the Federal Circuit held it error to allow Nokia to intervene, because there was no longer an existing suit within the court's jurisdiction for Nokia to intervene in, the matter having been already dismissed with prejudice. Applying the four factor test for intervention (specifically: (1) a live suit; (2) standing; (3) timeliness; and (4) a shared question of fact or law with the suit), the court found the first factor was was not met, and did not go on to consider the other factors.
  
• Since Nokia could not intervene, the court also found no basis for reinstating the lower court's prior orders under Rule 60(b), because a district court may only entertain such a motion from a party, and Nokia was not a party.
  
• The court noted, in a footnote, that it did not think its ruling harsh, because Nokia had been aware of the rulings at issue for two years before seeking to intervene.