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In Mississippi Chem, the Federal Circuit held that prior inconsistent judgments serve as a "red flag warning" for the court to more carefully consider whether the patentee had a full and fair opportunity to litigate the issue in the case that resulted a finding of invalidity. The idea of this red-flag warning comes from a pre-Federal Circuit decision by the Fifth Circuit. Blumcraft of Pittsburgh v. Kawneer Co., 482 F.2d 542 (5th Cir.1973). In Blumcraft, the court wrote (in dicta) that "under our ruling today it would be technically possible to apply collateral estoppel where a prior finding of invalidity was preceded by several rather than by just one finding of validity."
In such instances there would be a red flag warning a court to apply the full and fair criteria very carefully to determine if the court finding the patent invalid had adequately comprehended and applied the appropriate substantive standards.
