Plaintiff Biomet, Inc. (“Biomet”) filed a complaint for Declaratory Judgment against Bonutti Skeletal Innovations, LLC (“Bonutti”) seeking a declaration that the manufacture, use, or sale of Biomet’s products does not infringe on Bonutti’s patents. Bonutti filed a motion to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction pursuant to Fed. R.…
Articles Posted in District Courts
Disclosure of Opinions of Counsel to Customers Waived Privilege as to the Opinions and the Subject Matter of the Opinions
Plaintiff The Procter & Gamble Company (“Plaintiff”) filed a patent infringement action against Clio USA, Inc. (“Clio”). Plaintiff moved to compel certain opinions of counsel and other documents concerning the subject matter of those opinions. In the litigation, Clio had produced to Plaintiff copies of two abridged opinions, which were…
Inequitable Conduct Claim Dismissed on Summary Judgment Motion Where Conduct of Patent Prosecutor Was Disputed and Did Not Require a Finding of Intent to Deceive
KFx Medical Corp. (“KFx”) alleged that Arthrex, Inc. (“Arthrex”) infringed three of its patents: United States Patent Number 7,585,311 (“311 Patent”), United States Patent Number 8,100,942 (“942 Patent”) and United States Patent Number 8,109,969 (“969 Patent”). All three patents share the same name: “System and Method for Attaching Soft Tissue…
Motion to Dismiss for Lack of Personal Jurisdiction Granted Where Supplier of Allegedly Infringing Product Sued for Declaratory Relief After Its Customer Was Sued in a Different Jurisdiction
Ball Metal Beverage Container Corp. “(Ball Metal”) filed a declaratory judgment action against CMI&J LLC (“CML&J”) for non-infringement and invalidity. CML&J moved to dismiss the action for lack of personal jurisdiction, contending that it lacked sufficient minimum contacts with Colorado. The declaratory judgment action centered on U.S. Patent No. 8,245,866…
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…
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…
Inadvertent Disclosure Did Not Waive Privilege and Crime Fraud Exception Held Not to Apply Even Though Disclosed Document May Show That Plaintiff’s Counsel Told Plaintiff It Had a Weak Legal Claim
After the plaintiff, Peerless Industries, Inc. (“Peerless”) produced an arguably privileged document to the defendant, Crimson AV LLC (“Crimson”), Peerless asserted that the document was inadvertently disclosed and was privileged. Crimson filed a motion to compel production of the document, particularly asserting that it should be produced under an exception…
Community Property Rights of Ex-Wife Impact Standing of Plaintiff to Maintain Patent Infringement Action
James R. Taylor (“Taylor”) filed a patent infringement action against Taylor Made Inc. (“Taylor Made”). Taylor Made filed a motion to dismiss the action on the ground that Taylor did not have standing to maintain the patent infringement action because Taylor’s ex-wife had not been made a party to the…
Apple Moves to Limit Claims Asserted and Court Orders the Plaintiff to Reduce 247 Claims to 70 Claims over 10 Patents
Plaintiff Unwired Planet (“UP”) filed a patent infringement action against Apple asserting over 247 claims in ten different patents. Apple filed a motion to limit the number of claims. In the motion, Apple asserted that UP had included approximately 80% of the total number of claims in the patents. Apple…
Allegation that Defendants Knew of Patent at Time of Service of Complaint Sufficient to Establish Knowledge Requirement for Inducing Infringement
Potter Voice filed a patent infringement action against Apple, Google, HTC, Sony, LG, Motorola, ZTE, Kyocera, Sharp, Huawei, Pantech, Research in Motion, Microsoft and Nokia. Many of the defendants filed several motions to dismiss pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6). After addressing the pleading standard for determining a Rule 12(b)(6) motion and…