Regents of the University of California v. LTI Flexible Products, Inc.

BACKGROUND

I. FACTUAL BACKGROUND

22 The Regents administer the University of California system, including the University of 23 California, Santa Barbara (“UCSB”). TiMEMS is a research and development company 24 associated with the Regents. From 2006 to 2010, Payam Bozorgi was a Ph.D. candidate at UCSB, 25 studying micro electromechanical systems (“MEMS”) and titanium thermal ground planes (“Ti- 26 TGPs”). See Third Amended Complaint (“TAC”) [Dkt. No. 86] ¶ 15. He worked under Professor 27 Carl Meinhart. Id. Bozorgi and Meinhart are the named inventors on U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/106,556 (“the ‘556 provisional”), filed in January 2015. U.S. Patent No. 10,458,719 (“the ‘719 patent”) and U.S. Patent Application No. 15/000,460 (“the 460 application”) claim priority to it. The ‘556 provisional, ‘719 patent, and ‘460 application are, collectively, referred to as “the Subject IP.” I have recounted some of the history of ownership of the Subject IP in prior orders. This order only concerns the chain of title that arose from Meinhart’s interest in the Subject IP, so I do not discuss the chain of title that arose…