DDR Holdings, LLC (“DDR”) filed a patent infringement action against multiple defendants alleging infringement of U.S. patent Nos. 6,629,135 (“the ‘135 patent”) and 6,993,572 (“the ‘572 patent”). The case went to trial on October 8, 2012 against Digital River, Inc. (“Digital River, Inc. (“Digital River”), National Leisure Group, Inc., and…
Articles Posted by Stan Gibson
SFA Systems v. Amazon: SFA Permitted to Amend Infringement Contentions Where Amendment Would Streamline Discovery and Prejudice to Amazon Would Be Minimal
SFA Systems (“SFA”) filed a patent infringement action against Amazon and twenty-six other defendants in 2011. SFA subsequently timely served its infringement contentions pursuant to the local rules in the Eastern District of Texas. After receiving discovery from Amazon, SFA requested that Amazon supplement its discovery responses to produce documents…
Motion to Enhance Ongoing Royalty Granted Based on Strength of Jury Verdict
After Syntrix Biosystems, Inc. (“Syntrix”) filed a patent infringement action against Illumina, Inc. (“Illumina”), a jury returned a verdict against Illumina for patent infringement and awarded a reasonable royalty of 6%. Syntrix subsequently filed a motion for an ongoing royalty in the amount of 9% instead of seeking a permanent…
Motion to Stay Pending Inter Partes Review Denied Where the Claim Construction Hearing Had Already Occurred
Defendant Omron Oilfield & Marine, Inc. (“Omron”) filed a motion to stay pending an Inter Partes Review that it initiated against Plaintiff’s National Oilwell Varco, L.P.’s (“NOV”) patent-in-suit. The patent-in-suit, U.S. Patent No. 5,474,142 (the ‘142 patent), is directed to automatic drilling. As the district court explained, “[o]n May 3,…
Motion to Enforce Settlement Agreement Denied Where Agreement Was Reached as to the Amount of the Settlement But Party Struck Through Two Other Material Terms
Graco Childrens Products Inc. (“Graco”) filed a patent infringement action against Kids II, Inc. (“Kids II”). During discovery, Graco and Kids II agreed to discuss terms to settle the dispute. As part of that process, Graco’s in-house counsel sent an email to Kids II’s in-house counsel, with a settlement proposal…
Emblaze v. Apple: Court Orders Parties to Meet and Confer Over Motion to Compel After Emblaze Fails to Justify How Apple’s Search Terms Were Unduly Burdensome
In this patent infringement action, Apple moved to compel production from Emblaze based on search terms that Apple provided. Emblaze opposed the motion, arguing that it had produced all responsive documents, that Apple’s requests were overbroad and that using Apple’s search terms would be unduly burdensome. The court began its…
Foreign Parent Could Not Seek Lost Profits Based on Sales Lost By Its United States Subsidiary
After Fujitsu Limited (“Fujitsu”) filed a patent infringement action against Tellabs, Inc. (“Tellabs”), Tellabs filed a motion for summary judgment on the issue of lost profits. As explained by the district court, Fujitsu Limited, a Japanese corporation, is the sole owner of two United States patents that Fujitsu Limited asserted…
Motion to Intervene Denied After Jury Verdict of Patent Infringement Where Third Party Had Notice of Case and Could have Intervened Sooner
After a jury determined that certain defendants induced infringement of the plaintiff’s patents by, among other things, selling unregulated and semi-regulated bus converters to third parties, such as Cisco, Cisco moved to intervene into the case. The district court explained that “[t]he jury found that Cisco, among others, was a…
Apple’s Motion to Dismiss Based on Invalidity and “Divided Infringement” Denied as Premature Because Court Had Not Yet Ruled on Claim Construction
H-W Technology, L.C. (“H-W”) filed a patent infringement action against Apple and several other defendants including Amazon and Buy.com. H-W alleged that it had ownership of U.S. Patent No. 7,525,955, entitled “Internet Protocol (IP) Phone with Search and Advertising Capability” (the ‘955 patent). The 955 patent is directed to systems…
Defendant Precluded from Deposing Plaintiff’s Expert Twice, Once After the Initial Expert Reports and Again After Rebuttal Reports
Plaintiff ProconGPS, Inc. (“Procon”) filed a patent infringement action against Skypatrol, LLC (“Skypatrol”). During the expert phase of the case, a dispute arose over the deposition of plaintiff’s experts. The parties disputed whether Skypatrol should be permitted to depose plaintiffs’ experts twice, once after Procon’s initial expert report and again…