98
Opinion of the Court
Second, while the initial burden of establishing the trial court's jurisdiction rests on the party invoking that jurisdiction, once that burden has been met courts are entitled to presume, absent further information, that jurisdiction continues. If a party to an appeal suggests that the controversy has, since the rendering of judgment below, become moot, that party bears the burden of coming forward with the subsequent events that have produced that alleged result. See United States v. W. T. Grant Co., 345 U. S. 629, 633 (1953).20 In this case Cardinal properly invoked the original jurisdiction of the District Court, and Morton properly invoked the appellate jurisdiction of the Federal Circuit. That court unquestionably had the power to decide all the issues raised on Morton's appeal. If, before the court had decided the case, either party had advised it of a material change in circumstances that entirely terminated the party's controversy, it would have been proper either to dismiss the appeal or to vacate the entire judgment of the District Court. Cf. United States v. Munsingwear, Inc., 340 U. S. 36, 39 (1950). In fact, however, there was no such change in this case. The Federal Circuit's decision to rely on one of two possible alternative grounds (noninfringement rather than invalidity) did not strip it of power to decide the second question, particularly when its decree was subject to review by this Court. Even if it may be good practice to decide no more than is necessary to determine an appeal, it is clear that the Federal Circuit had jurisdiction to review the declaratory judgment of invalidity. The case did not become moot when that court affirmed the finding of noninfringement.
20 To the extent that the Federal Circuit, relying on Judge Bennett's concurrence in Vieau, see n. 10, infra, would have imposed the burden on Cardinal to show that jurisdiction over its counterclaim, once established in the District Court, continued to attach before the Court of Appeals, it would therefore have been in error. Bearing the initial burden of establishing jurisdiction is different from establishing that it has disappeared.
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