In a patent case pending before Judge Selna in the Central District of California, Defendant Nestlé USA, Inc. (“Nestlé”) moved pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6) to dismiss Plaintiff Network Signatures, Inc.’s (“NSI”) infringement claims under Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 570 (2007) and Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 129 S.Ct.…
Patent Lawyer Blog
Oracle v. Google: Google Moves to Exclude Portions of the Court-Appointed Expert’s Report on Patent Damages
As the battle over Android heads into trial, the district court appointed an expert on damages because the damages presented were complex and widely divergent. After the court-appointed expert submitted its report, Google moved to exclude portions of the expert report on patent damages. After reviewing the standards for expert…
Apple v. Motorola: “The Witness Lists Are Too Long”
And so began a recent order from Judge Posner in the ongoing dispute between Apple and Motorola over various patents directed to features of smart phones. Apple and Motorola have each asserted patent claims against the other and, as the case approaches trial, Judge Posner has issued an order regarding…
Plaintiff Prohibited from Offering Evidence of Defendants’ Overall Economic Status and Profitability During Patent Infringement Trial
In this patent infringement action pending in the Eastern District of Texas between SimpleAir and a number of defendants, including Apple, the defendants filed a motion in limine to preclude SimpleAir from referencing the revenue or profits associated with Defendants’ products or Defendants’ overall economic status, profitability, or relative financial…
Damage Award of $5 Million Upheld Where Plaintiff Submitted Expert Testimony of Running Royalty Rate and Jury Was Not Required to Adopt Either of the Parties Royalty Calculations
Plaintiff, Imaginal Systems, LLC (“Imaginal”) filed a patent infringement action against Leggett & Platt, Inc. (“Leggett”) and Simmons Bedding Company (“Simmons”) over three patents, which pertain to automatic stapling machines and a method of manufacturing box spring mattresses. The district court ruled on summary judgment that Imaginal’s patents were valid…
Thereasense Round Two: Even After “Seismic Shift” in the Law of Inequitable Conduct, District Court Applies Federal Circuit’s New Standard and Still Finds Patent Invalid Due to Inequitable Conduct
On remand to the district court after the Federal Circuit’s en banc decision in Therasense v. Becton, Dickinson and Co., the district court reviewed the procedural posture of the case and the landmark Therasense decision. The district court noted that “Therasense worked a seismic shift in the law of inequitable…
Patent Holder Loses Request to Extend Date for Filing Preliminary Infringement Contentions Where It Did Not Act Diligently in Seeking Relief from Court
ArrivalStar filed a motion seeking to extend the deadline for providing its preliminary infringement contentions arguing that the district court’s scheduling order only provided fourteen days for ArrivalStar to prepare and serve its preliminary infringement contentions, that ArrivalStar was misled by Enroute Systems, the opposing party, into believing that the…
Eastern District of Texas Limits Plaintiff to 40 Claims Across 10 Patents But Orders Dell to Respond to Interrogatory Seeking Non-Infringement Contentions Prior to Claim Construction
Plaintiff, Round Rock Research (“Round Rock”), filed a motion to compel non-infringement contentions from Defendant Dell (“Dell”) and Dell moved to limit the number of asserted complaints brought by plaintiff. Round Rock asserted ten patents against 125 products of Dell and Dell contended that Round Rock had asserted approximately 82…
Stay Pending Reexamination Granted, Even Though Plaintiff and Defendant Were Competitors, Because Plaintiff Did Not Move for a Preliminary Injunction
The defendant filed a motion to stay pending reexamination of the plaintiff’s patent. The district court noted that the plaintiff and defendant are both participants in the oxygen concentrator market. Inogen filed the action on November 4, 2011 asserting infringement of two of its patents. On February 8, 2012, Inova…
Oracle v. Google: Oracle Strikes Back and Succeeds in Striking Part of Google’s Expert Report on Damages
In response to Oracle’s third expert on damages (which was submitted after the district court had struck parts of the first two reports), Google’s damage experts were permitted to submit supplemental damage reports. With respect to the patent damages, the district court summarized the supplemental report as follows: “In his…