A federal judge in Virginia sided with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, granting summary judgment in its favor after concluding the majority of information the office withheld in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request was exempted under the law.
In a March 17 opinion, U.S. District Judge Patricia Tolliver Giles of the Eastern District of Virginia granted summary judgment to to the USPTO, finding the office had properly withheld information pursuant to Exemption 5 of the FOIA, with one narrow exception. Giles denied plaintiff David E. Boundy’s motion for summary judgment.
