Forgery And Litigation Misconduct Doom Patent, Trigger Sanctions

2010-1149 Applied Materials v. Multimetrixs ND/CA 06-cv-7372 Judge Marilyn Hall Patel Defendants appeal from the orders of Judge Patel finding their patent, 6,831,287 unenforceable due to inequitable conduct before the PTO and then sanctioning them under § 285 and inherent powers.  The ’287 patent relates to a dual sensor design for vapor deposition processing of [...]

Court Rejects “Repair” Defense, Presumes Irreparable Harm For Preliminary Injunction

2010-1146 BorgWarner v. Dorman Products ED/MI 09-cv-11602 Judge John Corbett O’Meara Dorman appeals from the preliminary injunction order entered against it by Judge O’Meara stopping sales of its regenerative air pumps, used in automobile emission controls systems, as a likely infringement of BorgWarner’s 5,527,149 and 6,422,808 patents. The court’s rejection of the “permissible repair” defense [...]

And On The 15th Day It Was Too Late

2010-1143 Juniper Networks v. GraphOn Corp. ED/VA 09-cv-287 Judge Gerald Bruce Lee Defendants GraphOn et al appeal from the order of Judge Gerald Bruce Lee striking their motion for attorneys’ fees under § 285 for being late:  the motion was filed on December 10, 2009—15 days after the Clerk entered the order of dismissal.

Appealing A Stay Pending Reexamination?

2010-1142 Sorensen v. Dorman Products SD/CA 09-cv-1579 Judge Barry Ted Moskowitz Pantentee Sorensen (sometimes also spelled “Sorenson”) attempts to appeal from the Order of Judge Barry Moskowitz granting defendants’ motion to stay the case pending reexamination of patent no. 4,935,184.  The Court did deny defendants’ motions to dismiss or to transfer in favor of the [...]

Nilssen: Sanctioned (Yet) Again

2010-1139 Nilssen v Wal-Mart ND/IL 04-cv-5363 Judge Robert Gettlemen Plaintiffs Ole Nilssen & Geo Foundation appeal from the order of Judge Gettlemen finding the case exceptional and awarding attorneys fees.

Exceptional Case Based On Inequitable Conduct During Prosecution

2010-1135 B-K Lighting v. Fresno Valves CD/CA 06-cv-2825 Judge Margaret M. Morrow Patentee B-K appeals from the order of Judge Margaret Morrow declaring the case exceptional under § 285 and awarding attorneys’ fees.  The award was due to inequitable conduct before the PTO in failing to disclose certain prior art.  The Court declined to base [...]

CAFC: Law Firm Disqualified On Appeal

2009-1171, -1558 Outside the Box v. Travel Caddy The Federal Circuit has granted Outside the Box Innovations’ (aka Union Rich) Motion to Disqualify King & Spalding from representing Travel Caddy on appeal.  Travel Caddy hired lawyers from King & Spalding to represent it on this appeal–however, another King & Spalding lawyer acted as an expert [...]

Introducing: Oral Argument Previews

At the beginning of each month, we’ll be posting the Federal Circuit’s oral argument calendar for the next month.  Then, during the ensuing weeks leading up to arguments, we’ll preview a few of the cases that catch our collective eye.  We’re admittedly a little late for March, but we’ll try and squeeze a few posts in before [...]

Earlier Contract Case Now Bars Invalidity DJ

2010-1134 Cummins v. TAS Distribution CD/CA 09-cv-1096 Judge Joe Billy McDade Cummins appeals from the summary judgment of Judge McDade finding its declaratory judgment action for patent invalidity, misuse, and contract termination barred under the doctrine of claim preclusion (f/k/a res judicata).  This is the third lawsuit between the parties since 2003, and all derive [...]