Court Maintains License Pending Coverage Dispute

2009-1168 Fairchild Semiconductor v. Third Dimension (3D)D/ME 08-158Judge D. Brock Hornby Patentee/declaratory-judgment defendant 3D appeals from the grant by Judge D. Brock Hornby of a preliminary injunction prohibiting it from terminating a patent license to Fairchild.  The license relates to patent 5,216,275 and a related Chinese patent directed to superMOSFET technology for silicon semiconductors.

Post Infringement Reasonable Royalty

2009-1154 Amado v. MicrosoftCD/CA 03-242Judge David Carter Plaintiff Amado appeals from the order of Judge David Carter setting the reasonable royalty for Microsoft's post-verdict sale of infringing products and reducing the number of units for which the royalty is owed. 

Arbitration Clause (Temporarily?) Derails ITC Investigation

2008-1504 Sumitomo v. ITCITC 337-TA-635 Sumitomo appeals from the decision of the ITC to terminate the investigation regarding the importation of certain pesticides and products containing clothianidin that infringe claims 1 and 9 of 5,034,404.  The ITC determined that an arbitration clause in a license between predecessors of the parties required termination of the investigation [...]

Nonexclusive Licensee Has Implicit “Have-Made” Rights

2008-1502 Corebrace v. Star SeismicD/UT 08-cv-11Judge Dale Kimball Corebrace appeals from Judge Dale Kimball’s grant of a motion to dismiss finding that Star did not breach its license of Corebrace’s 7,188,452 patent, and therefore there was no claim for breach of contract or patent infringement.  The patent relates to a restraining brace used in steel-framed [...]

Claims Against Downstream Purchasers Barred By Settlement And Estoppel

2008-1430 TransCore v. Electronic TransactionND/TX 3:05-cv-02316Judge Ed Kinkeade TransCore appeals from the summary judgment order of Judge Ed Kinkeade finding that TransCore is judicially estopped from suing defendant for patent infringement due to its earlier settlement with third-party Mark IV. TransCore manufacturers and installers automatic vehicle identification systems ("AVI systems"), including systems that could be [...]

Ignoring Italian Arbitration Proves Costly To Innovative Designs

2008-1387 R.M.F. Global v. CattanWD/PA 04-cv-0593 Declaratory judgment plaintiff Innovative Designs appeals from Judge Arthur Schwab’s order confirming the Italian Arbitration Association’s ("IAA" or, when in Italy, "AIA") award to Eliotex/Cattan of approximately $4.1 million plus over €200,000 in arbitration and attorney’s fees. Plaintiffs were the exclusive agents for defendants with rights to defendants’ patent, [...]

2008-1163 Murphey v. TPS Enterprises

D/AZ 04-CV-2430 Plaintiff and defendants entered into license for plaintiff’s patent and to commercialize plaintiff’s product, a snowcone vending machine.  Failing to bring anything to market, the arrangement was terminated.  Plaintiff sued (and lost) a state court case that defendants didn’t try hard enough, and then brought the instant action claiming infringement for defendant’s use [...]