Newly Assigned District Judge Orders Reconsideration of Prior Order Invalidating Patents-in-Suit Under 35 U.S.C. § 101

The newly assigned district judge sua sponte moved to reconsider the previous district judge's summary judgment ruling that plaintiffs' marketing analysis patents were invalid for lack of patentable subject matter under 35 U.S.C. § 101. "This Court has reviewed the [prior] patent decision and believes that it is in the interests of justice to reconsider that ruling. The Court believes that the district court may have misapprehended the patents; this Court has not reached a final resolution as to whether that requires reversal. . . . This Court does not believe additional briefing is necessary to such reconsideration but will nonetheless allow the parties to be heard on the substance of vacatur (the Court does not need briefing on the subject of its discretionary authority to sua sponte revisit prior decisions in a pending case)."

TNS Media Research, LLC, et. al. v. TRA Global, Inc., 1-11-cv-04039 (NYSD June 24, 2016, Order) (Forrest, J.)