UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, ex rel. PAMELA A. BERGE, Plaintiff-Appellee, and UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Intervenor, v. THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA; ROBERT F. PASS, Professor of Pediatrics; SERGIO B. STAGNO, Professor and Chairman, Department of Pediatrics; CHARLES A. ALFORD, Professor of Pediatrics; KAREN B. FOWLER, Defendants-Appellants. AMERICAN COUNCIL ON EDUCATION; THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF STATE COLLEGES & UNIVERSITIES; THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF STATE UNIVERSITIES AND LAND-GRANT COLLEGES; AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF COMMUNITY COLLEGES; COUNCIL OF GRADUATE SCHOOLS; THE REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA; THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS SYSTEM; THE UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO; THE REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA; THE REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN; ASSOCIATION OF AMERICAN MEDICAL COLLEGES; EUGENE DONG, M.D., J.D.; ROBERT L. SPRAGUE, M.D., Ph.D.; JEFFREY F. WILLIAMS, B.V.Sc., M.R.C.V.S., Ph.D.; TAXPAYERS AGAINST FRAUD, THE FALSE CLAIMS ACT LEGAL CENTER, Amici Curiae., 104 F.3d 1453

Summary

Plaintiff relator brought her qui tam action under the False Claims Act, 31 U.S.C.S. §§ 3729-3733, against defendants alleging that they made false statements to the National Institutes of Health in their annual progress reports under their grants. The jury returned a verdict in favor of plaintiff, finding False Claims Act liability against all defendants except one and found some defendants liable for conversion of intellectual property in differing amounts. The lower court denied defendants' motions for judgment as a matter of law and a new trial, and defendants appealed. The court held that after reviewing all evidence in the light most favorable to plaintiff, it was clear that substantial evidence upon which the jury could have found for plaintiff was lacking. Plaintiff failed on her burden of showing materiality and thus judgment as a matter of law was appropriate for defendants on the False Claims Act claim. The court held federal copyright law preempted plaintiff's conversion ...