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…
Articles Posted in District Courts
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…
Motorola v. Apple: Judge Postpones Markman and Orders Motorola and Apple to Clean Up Their Own Mess
As the litigation between Motorola and Apple rages on throughout the country, one judge has had enough of an ever increasing number of claims and patents asserted by both companies. As explained by the district court, “[b]oth Apple and Motorola greatly expanded the scope of this patent litigation by, among…
HP’s Motion to Dismiss for Lack of Standing Denied Where Plaintiff Demonstrated It Had Substantial Rights to Patents-in-Suit Even Though GE Had Right to Enforce Patents Against Seventeen Specific Companies, None of Which Were Defendants in the Litigation
Princeton Digital Image Corporation (“PDIC”) filed several patent infringement actions against Hewlett-Packard, Fujifilm, Xerox, Facebook and Ricoh, among others. The Defendants moved to dismiss the complaint for lack of standing. The case is based on two patents for digital image processing technology in cameras, computers and other devices. In May…
Claim for Induced Infringement Survives after Akamai Where Inference of Intent to Induce Infringement Was “not only reasonable; it is almost inescapable”
Plaintiffs Transunion Intelligence LLC and Trans Union LLC (collectively, “Transunion”) filed a patent infringement action against Search America over two patents that are directed to a computer-implemented method and software that is used to access a person’s eligibility to receive financial assistance for healthcare services. Transunion asserted both direct infringement…
Supreme Court’s Decision in Guam v. Minton Has Immediate Impact and Leads to Vacating of Trial so that Court Could Determine If It Had Jurisdiction over Case
In Gunn v. Minton, 2013 WL 610193 (Feb. 20, 2013), a unanimous United States Supreme Court determined that state courts can address legal malpractice disputes even though the underlying action may turn on issues involving patents. As expected, this ruling, which significantly narrowed federal court jurisdiction, is likely to impact…
Microsoft Invalidates Motorola’s Patent Claims Where Means-Plus-Function Limitations Were Found Indefinite
In this patent infringement action between Microsoft and Motorola, Motorola asserted certain claims of various patents against Microsoft, including claims that included “means for decoding” and “means for using” limitations. Motorola asserted that Microsoft’s Windows 7 operating system and Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 9 infringed the asserted claims of the patents-in-suit.…
Customer Comments Admissible Over a Hearsay Objection Where Comments Could Be Used to Establish Use of an Infringing Feature
ABT Systems, LLC (“ABT”) filed an action against Emerson Electric Co. (“Emerson”). As the case proceeded to trial, the district court made some key rulings on motions in limine. In particular, the district court addressed whether customer product reviews on the Internet were admissible over a hearsay objection. As the…