On appeal, a party cannot recover fees incurred at the PTAB under Section 285

Amneal Pharm v. Almirall was decided on June 4, 2020, on appeal from the PTAB. After Amneal filed a petition for an IPR challenging Almirall’s patent, Almirall sued Amneal in the district court on a different patent. The parties engaged in settlement discussions, in which Almirall offered to enter into …

Denial of preliminary injunction and dismissal with prejudice for defective contentions affirmed

Xiaohua Huang v. MediaTek U.S. is a nonprecedential case decided on June 3, 2020 on appeal from the Northern District of California. After denying Plaintiff Huang’s motion for sanctions, a TRO, and a preliminary injunction, the district court struck Huang’s fourth set of infringement contentions for failing to comply the …

Ten percent prejudgment interest on the jury award affirmed

Schwendimann v. Arkwright Advanced Coating was decided on May 13, 2020, on appeal from the District of Minnesota. The district court granted Plaintiff Schwendimann motion for summary judgment of proper standing. Following a jury trial, a judgment of willful infringement was entered against Defendant Arkwright and the jury awarded Schwendimann …

No irreparable harm where plaintiff licenses the patent and defendant competes with the licensees

Verinata Health v. Ariosa Diagnostics is a nonprecendential case decided on April 24, 2020, on appeal from the Northern District of California. The asserted patents concern DNA sequence testing. After trial, the jury found two patents owned by Plaintiffs Verinata and Illumina valid and infringed, and awarded “approximately $27 million …

Assignor estoppel bars assignor from challenging patent validity at the district court but not the PTAB

Hologic v. Minerva Surgical was decided on April 22, 2020 on appeal from the District of Delaware. A named inventor of the eventual asserted patents (the ‘183 and the ‘348) assigned his rights to the relevant patent applications to a company that would later be acquired by plaintiff Hologic. Years …

Defendant was prevailing party for fees after invalidating asserted claims at the PTAB

Dragon Intellectual Property v. DISH Network was decided on April 21, 2020 on appeal from the District of Delaware. After plaintiff Dragon sued defendant DISH for patent infringement, Dish filed a petition seeking inter partes review of the asserted patent. Following a claim construction hearing at the district court, the …

Denial of summary judgment on patent eligibility reversed and jury award vacated

Ericsson v TCL Communication Technology was decided on April 14, 2020, on appeal from the Eastern District of Texas. The district court denied defendant TCL’s motion for summary judgment that the asserted claims of plaintiff Ericsson’s patent were ineligible under 35 U.S.C. § 101. At trial, the jury found the …

Defendant is not prevailing party for fees where plaintiff voluntarily dismissed the case after invalidity at the USPTO

O.F. Mossberg & Sons v. Timney Triggers was decided on April 13, 2020, on appeal from the District of Connecticut. Plaintiff Mossberg brought a suit for patent infringement against defendant Timney. While the case was stayed, the USPTO in an ex parte reexamination “rejected all pending claims over the cited …

Stipulated dismissal with prejudice may form basis for attorney fees under Rule 54

Keith Manufacturing v. Butterfield was decided on April 7, 2020, on appeal from the District of Oregon. Plaintiff Keith Manufacturing brought a lawsuit against Defendant and former employee Butterfield after Butterfield filed a patent application. Keith alleged that the patent was based on inventions made during Butterfield’s employment and sought …

Finding of bad faith is required to enjoin patentee from making infringement accusations

Myco v. BlephEx was decided on April 3, 2020 on appeal from the Eastern District of Michigan. Declaratory plaintiff Myco filed an action against declaratory defendant BlephEx, seeking a declaration of no infringement and that the claims of BlephEx’s patent are invalid, and for injunctive and monetary relief. The district …