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Failure to Institute Inter Partes Review Is Not Grounds for Common Law Estoppel to Prevent Defendant from Re-Litigating Issues Raised before the Patent Office

The defendant filed a petition for Inter Partes Review (“IPR”) with the Patent Office. As part of its application, it submitted a 65 page brief along with several hundred page s of accompanying evidence. The plaintiffs submitted a 60 page brief along with its own evidence in response. After the…

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District Court Grants Permanent Injunction after Summary Judgment Ruling in Favor of Patent Holder Where Defendant Was Direct Competitor and Patent Holder Had Lost Sales and Market Share

After the district court granted the plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment of patent infringement, the district court addressed whether a permanent injunction was appropriate. The patent at issue, U.S. Patent No. 6,065,794 (‘794 Patent), which is titled “Security Enclosure for Open Deck Vehicles,” relates to storage management devices, or “trunk…

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District Court Refuses to Recognize “Apex” Doctrine for Documents Created by Inventor and Global Leader of Company

The defendant filed a motion to compel, seeking a wide array of discovery against Plaintiffs Dyson, Inc. and Dyson Limited (collectively, “Plaintiffs”) to produce emails belonging to James Dyson (“Dyson”). Plaintiffs asserted that Dyson is Plaintiffs’ “global leader” and one of the named inventors on the patents-in-suit. Although plaintiffs agreed…

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Experts Ordered to Produce Draft Reports Exchanged with Other Experts

In this patent infringement action, the plaintiff, BRP, alleged three counts of patent infringement against Arctic Cat concerning snowmobile frame construction and snowmobile rider positioning. BRP alleged patent infringement by at least 91 Arctic Cat snowmobiles regarding two frame patents and infringement by at least 95 Arctic Cat snowmobiles regarding…

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District Court Denies Request to Have Invalidity Case Proceed Prior to Infringement Case

The parties in this patent infringement action could not agree on the order of proof at trial. Defendants sought to present their invalidity defense first, arguing that if the patent is invalid, they could not be liable for infringement. The plaintiffs opposed the request to re-order the proof at trial…

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District Court Declines to Grant Voluntary Dismissal of Action with Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings Pending Where Patent Was Found Invalid by Another Court

After a district court in the Eastern District of Virginia invalidated the patent-in-suit because it did “not pass the two part test laid out by the Supreme Court in Mayo and Alice.” Peschke Map Techs. LLC v. Rouse Properties Inc., No. 1:15-cv-1365, — F. Supp. 3d —-, 2016 WL 1031295,…

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District Court Grants Indicative Ruling to Vacate Judgment Based on Settlement of the Parties

In this patent infringement action, the parties reported that they had settled their dispute while it was pending before the Federal Circuit. The settlement was contingent upon the district court’s granting an indicative motion that it would vacate the underlying judgment. The district court began its analysis by noting that…

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District Court Strikes Affirmative Defenses of Laches, Waiver, Estoppel and Acquiescence for Lack of Sufficient Detail

After the plaintiff filed a Second Amended Complaint against Fieldpiece Instruments, Inc. (“Defendant”) for patent infringement, the Defendant filed its an answer raising a series of affirmative defenses to Plaintiff’s claims. The Plaintiff then moved to strike several of the Defendant’s affirmative defenses as insufficient or improper under Fed. R.…

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Covenant Not to Sue Insufficient to Warrant Dismissal of Counterclaims Where Covenant Contained Reservation of Rights

The plaintiff filed a motion to dismiss the defendants’ patent invalidity counterclaims for lack of subject matter jurisdiction pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. Rule 12(b)(1) because the plaintiff withdrew its patent infringement claims and filed a covenant not to sue regarding those claims. In the motion to dismiss, the plaintiff asserted that…

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District Court Orders Production of Settlement Agreements But Denies Request for Deposition That Would Go Beyond Four Corners of the Agreements

Plaintiffs filed a declaratory judgment action seeking a declaration that U.S. Patent No. 7,923,221 (the “Cabilly III patent”), owned by Defendants, is invalid and therefore Plaintiffs do not owe royalties with respect to Praluent. During the case, Plaintiffs requested production of five executed settlement agreements that resolved prior litigations involving…

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