In Amneal Pharmaceuticals LLC v. Almirall, LLC [2020-1106] (June 4, 2020), the Federal Circuit denied Almirall’s motion for attorneys fees and costs after Amneal dismissed its appeal from an adverse ruling in an IPR, including fees for conducting the IPR.

The Federal Circuit said that our legal system generally adheres to the “American Rule” under which “each party in a lawsuit ordinarily shall bear its own attorney’s fees.”

Section 285, however, changes this.

The Federal Circuit said that regardless of whether it can award fees for work on appeal from a decision in an IPR, “section 285 does not authorize this court to award fees for work that was done before the agency on appeal from an IPR.”