Gompper v. VISX, Inc.
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
298 F.3d 893 (2002)

- Written by Kelli Lanski, JD
Facts
VISX, Inc. (defendant) developed and sold laser vision-correction devices. VISX charged customers a $250 fee to use its patented laser system. In 1999, a Japanese competitor obtained approval to sell its laser vision-correction device and did not charge customers a usage fee. Facing significant competition, VISX filed patent-infringement suits in federal court and before the International Trade Commission (ITC). After a trial, the ITC ruled against VISX and determined that one of VISX’s core patents was invalid because the patent application failed to include a coinventor. After the ruling, VISX announced that it was lowering its usage fee and its stock plummeted. John Gompper (plaintiff) filed a securities class-action suit on behalf of VISX shareholders, alleging that VISX inflated its stock price by making disingenuous, optimistic statements about its financial outlook based on patents VISX knew were invalid. The district court dismissed the complaint for failing to state a claim under the heightened pleading standard of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (PSLRA). Gompper appealed.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Brunetti, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 815,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,300 briefs, keyed to 988 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.