Press Release
December 13, 2012

Goodwin Procter Defends IBM IP Appellate Win in U.S. Supreme Court

Goodwin attorneys recently successfully defended a significant intellectual property victory on behalf of IBM in the U.S. Supreme Court. The case, Picture Patents LLC v. Aeropostale, Inc., involved interpretation of IBM’s employee agreement regarding intellectual property rights.  

Before the district court, Goodwin argued for summary judgment that, under the IP Agreement, IBM owned patents obtained by a former employee after leaving IBM.  Summary judgment was granted and affirmed on appeal.  IBM opposed Supreme Court review and cert. was denied in November.

IBM was represented by Mark Abate and Calvin Wingfield of Goodwin Procter. Willy Jay participated in the opposition to the cert. petition.