Plantronics, Inc. (“Plantronics”) filed a patent infringement action against ALIPH, Inc. (“ALIPH”). After expert reports were submitted, ALIPH moved to exclude the expert report of Plantronics’ infringement expert. At the heart of the action is the fit of ear buds in a human ear. However, the district court found that…
Patent Lawyer Blog
Emblaze v. Apple: Court Declines to Stay the Case Pending the United States Supreme Court’s Decision in Akamai v. Limelight Networks
In this patent infringement action between Emblaze and Apple, Apple filed a motion to stay the case pending the recent grant of certiorari in Akamai v. Limelight Networks. In Akamai, a divided en banc Federal Circuit panel held that Akamai did not have to prove that any Limelight customer directly…
Federal Circuit Reaffirms De Novo Standard of Review for Claim Construction
In a long-awaited decision, the Federal Circuit ruled en banc to uphold the the de novo standard for appellate review of claim construction issues, which was previously established in another en banc decision, Cybor Corp. v. FAS Technologies, Inc. 138 F.3d 1448 (Fed. Cir. 1998). The facts and procedural background…
PersonalWeb v. Google: Duty to Preserve Emails Began When Patent Was Acquired
PersonalWeb Technologies, LLC (“PersonalWeb”) filed a patent infringement action against Google for infringement of its “Truenames” patents. Google filed a motion for sanctions based on a contention that PersonalWeb systematically deleted relevant emails when it reasonably anticipated litigation. PersonalWeb opposed the motion arguing that it had an email retention policy…
Court Finds that Rule 26 Disclosure and Computation of Damages Insufficient Where Party Failed to Explain How It Calculated Damage Number
Orbit Irrigation Products (“Orbit”) filed a patent infringement action against Sunhills International (“Sunhills”). After the completion of certain discovery, Sunhills filed a motion to compel. Sunhills contended that Orbit had failed to provide a computation of damages as required by Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26 and failed to produce…
Notice of Appeal Untimely Where Attorneys Claimed That Notice Through Electronic Filing System Did Not Start Time for Appeal
After trial and the denial of post-trial motions, AT&T Operations, Inc. (“AT&T”) filed motion to extend the time to file a notice of appeal pursuant to Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 4(a). AT&T argued that the e-mail notice of electronic filings (NEF’s) that defense counsel received did not provide them…
Does the Filing on an IPR Negate the Intent Element for an Indirect Patent Infringement Action? One District Court Says No.
Clouding IP (“Clouding”) filed a patent infringement action against Rackspace, which alleged direct, indirect, and willful infringement of the patents-in-suit. The district court granted defendant Rackspace’s motion to dismiss with respect to indirect infringement, but also granted Clouding leave to amend its complaint. In that ruling, the district court found…
District Court Refuses to Vacate Sanctions Ruling for Spoliation after Settlement
Digital-Vending Services International, LLC (“Digital-Vending”) filed a patent infringement action against The University of Phoenix, Inc. and Apollo Group, Inc. (“Defendants”). During the course of the litigation, the Magistrate Judge granted Defendants’ motion for sanctions for Digital-Vending’s spoliation. After the matter settled, Digital-Vending and the Defendants filed a consent motion…
Summary Judgment Motion Denied Where Expert’s Opinion Established a Triable Issue of Fact on Infringement
Geotag, Inc (“Geotag”) filed a patent infringement action against Frontier Communications Corp. (“Frontier”). Frontier filed a motion for summary judgment of non-infringement, arguing that no triable issue of material fact exists as to whether their accused products practice the limitations of U.S. Patent No. 5,930,474 (“the ‘474 Patent”) requiring topical…
Infinite Data v. Amazon: Lawsuit Against Customer Defendants Stayed if Customers Agree to be Bound by Findings of Invalidity in Lawsuit Against Manufacturer
Infinite Data filed twenty-one patent infringement actions against a number of companies, including Amazon.com. Mellanox Technologies sued Infinite Data for a declaratory judgment that its technology does not infringe Infinite Data’s patent and that the patent is invalid. Mellanox also alleged that it had received indemnification requests from “many” of…