National Oilwell Varco v. Omron is a nonprecedential case decided on January 25, 2017 on appeal from the Western District of Texas. There, the district court dismissed the case with prejudice, finding that plaintiff Oilwell lacked standing, and awarded attorney fees to defendant Omron based on the exceptional nature of Oilwell’s litigation conduct. The finding of no standing was based on an assignment of assets between Oilwell and a third party that did not include the patent in suit. Oilwell appealed.
The Federal Circuit affirmed the finding that Oilwell lacked standing to assert the patent, the district court’s dismissal with prejudice, and the attorney fees award.
Further, the district court’s decision to award attorney fees was no abuse of discretion. An exceptional case simply “stands out from others with respect to the substantive strength of a party’s litigating position (considering both the governing law and the facts of the case) or the unreasonable manner in which the case was litigated.” (parenthesis in original). “Bad faith is not necessary.”
The district court did not find Oilwell’s initial filing of the suit, or its infringement positions unreasonable. The district court, however, found exceptionally unreasonable Oilwell’s refusal to produce the assignment document when Omron specifically requested it, and Oilwell’s maintaining of the lawsuit once it was clear it lacked standing. This is because Oilwell was on notice of the standing issue, and “intentionally withheld” the assignment document, “unreasonably claiming” it was not relevant to any claim or defense in the case. The district court didn’t abuse its discretion in awarding all attorney fees starting from the date that Oilwell refused to produce the document.
Based on the dismissal for lack of standing, the Federal Circuit vacated the district court’s grant of summary judgment of invalidity and noninfringement.
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