In the patent infringement action between Cobra International, Inc. (“Cobra”) and BCNY International, Inc. (“BCNY”), BCNY filed a motion to compel several documents, including a litigation funding agreement. Cobra opposed the motion asserting that the person funding the litigation was not making decisions regarding the lawsuit and was not interfering…
Articles Posted by Stan Gibson
Register Now for a Patent Litigation Webinar: How community property laws can affect your company
Tuesday, January 14, 2014 1:00pm – 2:00pm The Intersection of Patents and Community Property: The Problem of the Ex-Spouse In a divorce, patents can be considered marital assets subject to community property laws, creating an unexpected and unwelcome tangle of legal issues for employers with a stake in the intellectual…
Bickering Brothers Break Common Interest and Results in Waiver of Attorney-Client Privilege
Porto Technology Co., LTD (“Porto”) filed a patent infringement action against Cellco Partnership d/b/a Verizon Wireless (“Verizon”). During the litigation, Verizon moved to compel communications between two of the plaintiffs, who are brothers, and counsel. As explained by the district court, the court began by looking at “communications between Ji-Soo…
Motion for Summary Judgment Based on Insufficient Written Description Denied Where There Were Disputed Issues of Material Fact
In this patent infringement action between competing producers of satellites and satellite networking systems, ViaSat plaintiffs asserted that Space Systems/Loral infringed the ‘875 patent. As explained by the district court, the ViaSat plaintiffs are corporations that develop commercial and military satellite and digital communication technologies. SS/L is a wholly owned…
NetAirus v. Apple: District Court Strikes Survey Expert Where Survey Expert’s Methodology Made No Effort to Shield Respondents from Study Goals and Included Both Owners and Prospective Purchasers as Respondents
In this patent infringement action, Plaintiff NetAirus Technologies, LLC (“NetAirus”) asserted that Apple infringes U.S. Patent No. 7,103,380 (the “‘380 Patent”). The ‘380 Patent claims methods in which a “handset unit [ ] configured to a personal digital assistant (PDA)” wirelessly communicates over both a local area network (“LAN”) and…
Covenant Not to Sue Does Not Prevent Finding of Exceptional Case and Award of Attorneys’ Fees Where Adverse Determinations Were Already Made
Plaintiffs Kim Laube & Co. (“Laube”) brought this patent infringement action against Defendant Wahl Clipper Corp. (“Wahl”) for infringement of U.S. Patent No. 6,473,973 (“the ‘973 Patent”), which is titled “Disposable Cutting Head for Clippers.” After jury and bench trials, Laube filed a motion dismiss all patent related claims and…
Apple v. Samsung: Samsung’s Request for Stay of Discovery Orders Denied Where Magistrate Judge Made No Ruling on Privilege Issues and the Scope of the Compelled Information Was Not Overly Broad
As a result of Samsung’s alleged violation of the protective order, Magistrate Judge Grewal previously ordered Samsung to produce to Apple emails and communications by Samsung employees that would shed light on the scope of the alleged protective order violation and to make available for deposition various witnesses by October…
Plaintiff Moves to Continue Trial Date Based on Dispute with Counsel; District Court Denies the Motion and Warns That Failure to Obtain New Counsel Will Result in Dismissal
In this patent infringement action that was originally filed against a number of defendants, plaintiff Alexsam, Inc. (“Alexsam”) moved for a continuance of the impending trial date set for October 2013. To support the motion, plaintiff notified the district court that it had terminated its relationship with its counsel of…
Unwired Planet v. Google: Court Reverses Decision Limiting Google to Prior Art References
Unwired Planet LLC (“Unwired Planet”) filed a patent infringement action against Google and it originally identified 124 claims from ten patents as its asserted claims against Google. Unwired subsequently reduced the number of its claims. At the August 20, 2013 case management conference, the parties offered different proposals for further…
District Court Sua Sponte Orders Claims for Indirect Infringement and Willfulness Dismissed for Failure to Plead Pre-Suit Knowledge of Patent
Eclipse IP LLC (“Eclipse”) filed several patent infringement actions against a number of defendants, in which it alleged indirect infringement (both inducing and contributory) as well as willfulness. The district court sua sponte issued an order regarding the indirect infringement claims as well as the willfulness allegations. The district court…