Plaintiffs Kim Laube & Co. (“Laube”) brought this patent infringement action against Defendant Wahl Clipper Corp. (“Wahl”) for infringement of U.S. Patent No. 6,473,973 (“the ‘973 Patent”), which is titled “Disposable Cutting Head for Clippers.” After jury and bench trials, Laube filed a motion dismiss all patent related claims and…
Patent Lawyer Blog
Apple v. Samsung: Samsung’s Request for Stay of Discovery Orders Denied Where Magistrate Judge Made No Ruling on Privilege Issues and the Scope of the Compelled Information Was Not Overly Broad
As a result of Samsung’s alleged violation of the protective order, Magistrate Judge Grewal previously ordered Samsung to produce to Apple emails and communications by Samsung employees that would shed light on the scope of the alleged protective order violation and to make available for deposition various witnesses by October…
Plaintiff Moves to Continue Trial Date Based on Dispute with Counsel; District Court Denies the Motion and Warns That Failure to Obtain New Counsel Will Result in Dismissal
In this patent infringement action that was originally filed against a number of defendants, plaintiff Alexsam, Inc. (“Alexsam”) moved for a continuance of the impending trial date set for October 2013. To support the motion, plaintiff notified the district court that it had terminated its relationship with its counsel of…
Voluntary Work Held to be Work for Hire in World of Warcraft Suit
by Ali Shalchi In Lewis v. Activision Blizzard, Inc., No. 4:12-cv-01096-CW (N.D. Cal. Oct. 17, 2013), an employee of Blizzard brought suit against the company for copyright infringement, alleging ownership of voiceover work used in the popular World of Warcraft online video game. The key issue on Blizzard’s motion for…
Unwired Planet v. Google: Court Reverses Decision Limiting Google to Prior Art References
Unwired Planet LLC (“Unwired Planet”) filed a patent infringement action against Google and it originally identified 124 claims from ten patents as its asserted claims against Google. Unwired subsequently reduced the number of its claims. At the August 20, 2013 case management conference, the parties offered different proposals for further…
District Court Sua Sponte Orders Claims for Indirect Infringement and Willfulness Dismissed for Failure to Plead Pre-Suit Knowledge of Patent
Eclipse IP LLC (“Eclipse”) filed several patent infringement actions against a number of defendants, in which it alleged indirect infringement (both inducing and contributory) as well as willfulness. The district court sua sponte issued an order regarding the indirect infringement claims as well as the willfulness allegations. The district court…
Apple v. Samsung: Court Orders Investigation into Potential Protective Order Violation by Samsung
As Apple and Samsung head toward yet another trial, Apple filed a motion for sanctions, accusing Samsung of violating the protective order in the case. Apple’s motion asserted that Samsung’s counsel had improperly shared information under the protective order with executives at Samsung. The court began its analysis with a…
Damage Expert Stricken without Leave to Amend after District Court Determines That Expert Over Reached by Using Entire Market Value Rule
As this patent infringement action moved closer to trial, the parties filed various motions in limine, including defendant Fortinet Inc.’s motion to strike the report and expert testimony of Network Protection Sciences, LLC’s (“NPS”) damage expert. In its motion to strike, Fortinet contended that the damage expert’s analysis improperly based…
Activision TV: District Court Expresses Concern over Nebraska Attorney General’s Cease and Desist Order and Grants Preliminary Injunction Precluding Enforcement
In the ongoing battle between Activision TV, Inc. (“Activision”) and the Attorney General for the State of Nebraska, Activision filed a preliminary injunction motion seeking to bar the Attorney General from enforcing a cease and desist order entered against Activision’s counsel. The district court had previously determined that the Attorney…
WiLAN v. Alcatel-Lucent: Parties Agree to Dismiss Dispute and Vacate Claim Construction Order But District Court Declines to Vacate the Claim Construction Order
WiLAN USA, Inc. (“Wi-LAN”) filed a patent infringement action against Alcatel-Lucent USA Inc. (“Alcatel-Lucent”). After a lengthy claim construction order, the parties filed a joint motion to vacate the claim construction order and dismiss the pending lawsuit. The motion consisted of a single page and contained no points and authorities…