After Plaintiff Pi-Net International, Inc. (“Pi-Net”) brought suit against Defendants Focus Business Bank and Bridge Bank, N.A. for patent infringement, the Patent and Trademark Office initiated an Inter Partes Review (“IPR”) of the patents-in-suit. The district court then stayed the action pending the resolution of the IPR. During this stay,…
Articles Posted in N.D. California
Open Text v. Box: District Court Holds That Box Can Present Damages in the Form of a Fully Paid-Up Lump Sum Payment Even Though Such an Award Might Preclude a Later Injunction
As the Open Text v. Box patent case gets closer to trial, Open Text sought to preclude Box from asking the jury to award damages in the form of a fully paid-up lump sum that would cover the life of the patents-in-suit. Open Text argued that such a result would…
Blue Spike v. Adobe: Court Grants Motion to Strike Infringement Contentions Where Contentions Failed to Crystalize Theory of the Case and Used an Open-Ended Priority Date
In this patent infringement action between defendant Adobe Systems, Inc. (“Adobe”) and plaintiff Blue Spike, LLC (“Blue Spike”), Adobe filed a motion to strike the infringement contentions (“ICs”) filed by Blue Spike. In the motion, Adobe contended that Blue Spike’s ICs fail to comply with the Patent Local Rules for…
District Court Declines to Hear Early Motion for Summary Judgment on Section 101 and Postpones Hearing until Claim Construction
In the pending patent infringement action between Netflix and Rovi, Netflix filed a motion for summary judgment, seeking a ruling that Rovi’s patents are invalid under 35 U.S.C. § 101. After the motion was filed, the district court “advised Netflix that it was entitled to only one motion for summary…
Apple v. Samsung: Samsung’s Invalidity Challenge to Apple’s Patents Denied Where Legal Theory Was Not Disclosed until after Trial
After the jury trial between Apple and Samsung, and shortly before the July 10, 2014 hearing on post-trial motions, Samsung requested leave to file supplemental briefing to argue that the asserted claims of two of Apple’s patents were invalid under 35 U.S.C. § 101, in light of the Supreme Court’s…
Apple v. Samsung: Court Denies Samsung’s Request for Discovery Based on Apple’s Alleged Disclosure of Confidential Information
In the ongoing patent battle between Samsung and Apple, Samsung, trying to turn the tables on Apple, filed a motion for sanctions based on Apple’s disclosure of confidential information. The court had previously sanctioned Samsung for disclosing confidential information. Prior to addressing the specific Samsung motion, the court went through…
Golden Bridge v. Apple: No Third Bite at the Apple as Damage Expert Excluded After Two Failed Reports and Where Trial Was Already Underway
Two weeks earlier, the court excluded the expert opinion and testimony of Plaintiff Golden Bridge Technology’s (“GBT”) damages expert. Nonetheless, the court gave GBT one week to submit a new report based on a new theory. After GBT met its deadline, Apple moved to exclude the second report as well.…
Potential Inventor Declarations Excluded for Claim Construction Where Specific Inventors and Their Proposed Testimony Were Not Identified
In this patent infringement action, a dispute arose over whether the defendant B/E Aerospace could rely on declarations from one or more of the inventors of the asserted patent in support of its claim construction position. As explained by the district court, “[i]n the Joint Claim Construction Statement (“Joint Statement,”…
FlatWorld v. Apple: Motion to Vacate Claim Construction Denied Even after Parties Reach Settlement
After the district court issued a Markman ruling, the parties informed the court that they had reached an agreement in principle to settle the action. The plaintiff, FlatWorld, then moved to vacate the claim construction order. The district court noted that it had only adopted FlatWorld’s proposed construction for one…
Motion to Withdraw as Counsel of Record Denied Because It Was Filed on the Eve of Trial
In this patent infringement action between Golden Bridge Technology, Inc. (“Golden Bridge or GBT”) against Apple, Golden Bridge’s counsel moved to withdraw as counsel of record because Golden Bridge had failed to pay the legal bills. As explained by the court, “[s]ince this case appeared on the undersigned’s docket, Plaintiff…