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Plaintiff SATA GmbH & Co. KG (“Plaintiff”) sought an ex parte Motion for Temporary Restraining Order and a Motion for Preliminary Injunction. Plaintiff alleged that Defendants Zhejiang Refine Wufu Air Tools Co., Ltd. (“Wufu”) and Prona Tools, Inc. (“Prona”) (collectively, “Defendants”) committed trademark counterfeiting, trademark infringement, and design patent infringement through Defendants’ use of Plaintiff’s trademarks and design patents on Defendants’ products.

The district court explained that “[i]n order to succeed on its motion, ‘[a] plaintiff seeking a preliminary injunction must establish that he is likely to succeed on the merits, that he is likely to suffer irreparable harm in the absence of preliminary relief, that the balance of equities tips in his favor, and that an injunction is in the public interest.’ Winter v. Natural Res. Def. Council, Inc., 555 U.S. 7, 20 (2008). Injunctive relief is ‘an extraordinary remedy that may only be awarded upon a clear showing that the plaintiff is entitled to such relief.’ Id. at 22.”
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In this patent infringement action, Watson Laboratories, Inc.’s (“Watson”) moved to dismiss several counts of the complaint filed by Jazz Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Jazz Pharmaceuticals Ireland Limited (collectively, “Jazz”). Watson moved to dismiss these counts under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) on the grounds that the “Risk Mitigation Patents” claim ineligible subject matter under 35 U.S.C. § 101.
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After Aylus timely served the report of its technical expert, Daniel Schonfeld, and Apple deposed the expert, Aylus served a “First Supplemental Expert Report of Dan Schonfeld” at the end of the expert discovery period. Apple then filed a motion to exclude the Supplemental Report on the grounds that (1) it was untimely because it contained new opinions regarding joint infringement that could have, and should have, been raised in Dr. Schonfeld’s opening report, (2) that Aylus had no justifiable excuse for the delayed disclosure, and (3) that Apple was prejudiced by the Supplemental Report.

The district court rejected Apple’s first argument because Apple conceded that the Federal Circuit’s en banc opinion in Akamai Techs., Inc. v. Limelight Networks, Inc., 797 F.3d 1020 (Fed. Cir. 2015), which Aylus claimed provided the basis for the Supplemental Report, “modified one aspect of” the control or direction standard for joint infringement. “On a claim for direct infringement of a method patent, the court will hold an entity responsible for others’ performance of method steps under two circumstances: (1) where that entity directs or controls others’ performance, and (2) where the actors form a joint enterprise.” Id. at 1022. The Federal Circuit held that in cases turning on the first ground, “liability under § 271(a) can also be found when an alleged infringer conditions participation in an activity or receipt of a benefit upon performance of a step or steps of a patented method and establishes the manner or timing of that performance.” Id. at 1023. In such cases, “the third party’s actions are attributed to the alleged infringer such that the alleged infringer becomes the single actor chargeable with direct infringement.” Id.
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The defendants moved to exclude the expert report of Mr. Ratliff, asserting that he made critical errors in his expert report on damages. The defendants specifically alleged that Mr. Ratliff committed basic math and reasoning errors in adjusting the royalty rate in an exclusive license from 1% to 4% for the non-exclusive hypothetical license.

The defendants first asserted that Mr. Ratliff made three math errors in adjusting a license agreement to derive the reasonable royalty rate for the hypothetical license. After reviewing the expert report, the district court found the approach sufficiently reliable to be admissible under the Federal Rules of Evidence and Daubert. “Why Cree and BU lowered the original 2% running royalty to 1% in the amended agreement, and whether additional payments from Cree and the sublicensees make the licensing scheme the economic equivalent of a 3% running royalty, are factual questions that go to the weight of his testimony.”
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Limestone filed a patent infringement action against Apple, alleging direct and willful infringement of four patents. For each of the four claims of patent infringement against Apple, Limestone alleged, “[u]pon information and belief, Apple will continue its infringement notwithstanding its actual knowledge of the [four patents] and while lacking an objectively reasonable good faith basis to believe that its activities do not infringe any valid claim of the [four patents].” As such, Apple’s future “acts of infringement will constitute continuing willful infringement of the [four patents].”

Apple filed a motion to dismiss Limestone’s four willful infringement claims. Apple asserted that Limestone did not allege pre-litigation knowledge of the patents at issue nor did it move for a preliminary injunction. Apple argued that the willful infringement claims were deficient for these reasons.
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In this patent infringement action, the plaintiff sought to substitute its damage expert because its current damage expert had retired. The plaintiff also sought to withdraw the retired expert’s damage report.

The Magistrate Judge construed this as a request to extend the discovery deadline. The Magistrate also determined that there was good cause for the request and granted the extension of the discovery deadline.
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As the case between Milo & Gabby, LLC and Amazon moved closer to trial, Amazon filed several motions in limine, including a motion to force the plaintiffs to remove statements from its websites, which Amazon contended were inaccurate and prejudicial. Amazon also contended that the statements on the website could taint potential jurors and contained impermissible argument regarding remedial measures.
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As the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (“WARF”) patent infringement case against Apple approached trial, Apple attempted to call a witness live that it had previously informed WARF’s counsel would be called by deposition.

Apple’s counsel had previously asked that Patrick McNamara be allowed to appear by deposition in order to accommodate his schedule and not cut into his vacation in order to be called adversely in WARF’s case.
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The District Court granted Transcend’s motion for summary judgment on the issue of non-infringement and denied the patent owner’s, Glaukos’, motion on the issue of inequitable conduct. The District Court then set a bench trial on the issue of inequitable conduct.

In light of these rulings, Glaukos argued that the inequitable conduct trial should be postponed because the infringement ruling resolved the gravamen of the dispute between the parties and a trial on the inequitable conduct issue would be a waste of resources and potentially unnecessary in the event that the infringement ruling is affirmed on appeal.
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In a pending patent infringement action, Apple moved to preclude the plaintiff, Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundations (“WARF”) from offering evidence or argument regarding the Patent Office’s denial of an IPR that Apple initiated. Apple relied on two prior art references as well as a declaration of Dr. Robert Colwell, who is Apple’s validity expert in the patent lawsuit. The petition also made several of the same arguments regarding the prior art references that Apple intended to present to the jury in support of its invalidity defense.

Apple argued that WARF should be precluded from offering evidence or argument regarding the IPR proceeding given its minimal probative value, risk of causing unfair prejudice, and possibility of misleading and confusing the jury. WARF opposed the motion, arguing that the PTAB’s decision is highly probative of validity of the patent, particularly where Apple intends to present many of the same arguments.
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