Plaintiff-Appellant Borden Larson appeals from decisions by the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida that granted summary judgment in favor of Defendants-Appellees Correct Craft, Inc. (“Correct Craft”), William Snook, and Robert Todd. Larson originally filed suit in Florida state court, alleging multiple fraud-based claims under state law, seeking rescission of several patent assignments he executed, and requesting declaratory judgments concerning the parties’ respective rights to the patents at issue. Correct Craft removed the case to federal court on the ground that the declaratory-judgment counts, although nominally pleaded under Florida law, were in substance claims to correct inventorship under 35 U.S.C. § 256. At oral argument, we raised the question of whether the district court properly exercised federal-question jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1338(a), and we permitted the parties to submit supplemental briefing on this jurisdictional issue.
As we explain below, Larson has no concrete financial interest in the correction of the patents in this case because he has assigned away all of his patent rights, and he claims no purely reputational interest in the patents. Thus, unless and until Larson obtains equitable relief that restores his ownership rights, he has no standing to bring a stand-alone action under § 256. Because his § 256 cause of action was the only basis for removal from state court, it follows that the district court had no basis for exercising subject-matter jurisdiction over the case, and so we lack jurisdiction to reach the merits of Larson’s appeal. Accordingly, we vacate the judgment of the district court and remand with instructions.
