In this patent infringement action, the Defendants requested that the court order a further Rule 30(b)(6) deposition of one of the deponents, Mr. Pang. In the motion, Defendants argued that Plaintiff’s counsel objected more than 300 times during the course of Mr. Pang’s deposition, and the objections impeded the fair…
Patent Lawyer Blog
District Court Sanctions Defendants for Failing to Agree to Standard Protective Order
In this patent infringement action, the plaintiff filed a motion for entry of a standard protective order after the defendant would not agree to sign a stipulated protective order. As explained by the district court, the plaintiffs sued defendants, alleging that they infringed on several patents. After the lawsuit was…
PTAB Authorizes the Filing of a Motion for Sanctions Against Inventor
In IPR2014-00739 involving petitioner Shire Development LLC and patent owner LCS Group, LLC, the petitioner sought authorization to file a motion for sanctions against the inventor based on his communications with petitioner in violation of a prior order from the Board. The Board’s prior order stated that “the inventor, Dr.…
Smartflash v. Apple: District Court Excludes Damage Theory Based on Survey Responses That Were Insufficient to Show That the Patented Feature Alone Motivated Survey Respondents to Purchase the Accused Devices
Plaintiffs Smartflash LLC and Smartflash Technologies Limited (collectively “Smartflash”) filed patent infringement actions against Apple, Inc. (“Apple”), Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., Samsung Electronics America, Inc., Samsung Telecommunications America, LLC (collectively “Samsung”), HTC Corporation, HTC America, Inc., and Exedea, Inc. (collectively “HTC”) (all collectively “Defendants”) alleging infringement of several patents. Smartflash’s…
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…
Plaintiff Loses Motion for Summary Judgment after District Court Concludes that Dispute over Person of Ordinary Skill in the Art Is Not Material
The plaintiff, MyMedicalRecords (“MMR”), owns U.S. Patent No. 8,498,883 (the ‘883 Patent) entitled “Method for Providing a User with a Service for Accessing and Collecting Prescriptions.” MMR asserted claims 1-3 of the ‘883 Patent against Quest Diagnostics, Inc., WebMD Health Corp., WebMD Health Services Group Inc., and Allscripts Healthcare Solutions,…
Motion for Rule 11 Sanctions Denied After Plaintiff Granted Defendants Covenant Not to Sue Where Plaintiff Attempted to Make an Assessment of the Likelihood of Infringement
Phoenix Modular Elevator, Inc. (“Phoenix”) filed a complaint for patent infringement against T.L. Shield & Associates, Inc. (“Shield”) and Modular Elevator Manufacturing, Inc. (“MEM”). The patent at issue, United States Patent No. 6,079,520 (the “520 patent”), is entitled “Method of Retro-Fitting Elevators to Existing Buildings.” As explained by the district…
Court Chastises Both Parties for Contentious and Unprofessional Behavior and Warns That Further “Offending Conduct” Will Lead to a Ban from Further Participation in Discovery
After a discovery dispute erupted in this patent infringement action, the court held a telephonic hearing on defendants’ motion to compel discovery and for sanctions and plaintiff’s cross-motion for a protective order. Although the court denied both motions without prejudice, it “chastised both sides for the contentiousness and unprofessionalism that…
Request to Join Summary Judgment Motion Based on Alice Four Weeks Before Trial Denied as Untimely
Four weeks prior to trial, defendant Cerner Corporation (“Cerner”) filed a motion to join a summary judgment motion filed by a defendant in a related case involving the same patents. In the summary judgment motion in the related case involving Allscripts, Allscripts argued that the plaintiff’s (RLIS) patents claim ineligible…
Dismissal Based on Petitioner’s Prior DJ Action Cannot Be Waived
In a covered business method review filed by petitioner GTNX, Inc., the petitioner sought review of four patents owned by patent owner INTTRA, Inc. The PTAB instituted trial on all four patents following the patent owner’s preliminary response. Notably, in its preliminary response the patent owner did not raise that…