The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit concluded that Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 54(b) does not permit entry of partial final judgment on some asserted claims of a patent while other asserted claims of the same patent remain unresolved. The Court explained that infringement of different claims of the same patent generally constitutes a single cause of action. ParkerVision, Inc. v. Qualcomm Inc., Case Nos. 26-1033; -1035 (Fed. Cir. Sept. 30, 2026) (Prost, Chen, Stark, JJ.)

ParkerVision sued Qualcomm in 2014 for infringement of two patents directed to electromagnetic signal conversion. One patent included asserted claims directed to down-conversion (receiver claims). The other patent included both receiver claims and asserted claims directed to up-conversion (transmitter claims).

In 2024, the Federal Circuit vacated an earlier summary judgment of noninfringement and remanded. Following claim construction on remand, the parties stipulated to noninfringement of the receiver claims, and the district court entered partial summary judgment. That ruling resolved all asserted claims of the patent directed only to down-conversion but left unresolved the transmitter claims of the patent covering both down-conversion and up-conversion. At ParkerVision’s request, and over Qualcomm’s objection, the district court entered judgment under Rule 54(b) as to the receiver claims and “severed and stayed” the transmitter claims pending appeal. ParkerVision appealed.

The Federal Circuit concluded that Rule 54(b) did not authorize entry of final judgment as to only some asserted claims of the patent covering both receiver and transmitter functionality. Rule 54(b) permits entry of final judgment only as to one or more “claims” for relief, coupled with an express determination that there is no just reason for delay. The Court explained that a “claim” under Rule 54(b) means a cause of action, not an individual patent claim.

Relying on 35 U.S.C. §§ 271(a) and 281 and Federal Circuit precedent, the Court explained that infringement of different claims of the same patent generally constitutes a single cause of action. ParkerVision’s complaint likewise pleaded a single infringement count for the patent covering both down-conversion and up-conversion and did not separately plead causes of action directed to the receiver and transmitter claims. The Court explained that because the receiver and transmitter claims were part of the same cause of action and the transmitter claims remained unresolved, the district court had not entered a final judgment subject to appellate review.

The Federal Circuit also rejected ParkerVision’s alternative jurisdictional arguments. ParkerVision contended that the judgment was final at least as to the patent directed only to down-conversion because all asserted claims of that patent had been resolved. The Court disagreed, explaining that the district court had not been asked to enter a Rule 54(b) judgment limited to that patent and had not made the required express determination that there was “no just reason for delay” as to that patent. Without a valid Rule 54(b) judgment as to the down-conversion patent, there was also no basis for pendent appellate jurisdiction over issues involving the patent covering both down-conversion and up-conversion.

The Federal Circuit [...]

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