Court Denies Summary Judgment of Patent Infringement Because of "Battle of the Experts"

In a May 28, 2015 ruling, Judge Jed S. Rakoff denied summary judgment of patent infringement because the parties’ experts had conflicting views on the issue. Judge Rakoff wrote that the plaintiff “has proffered expert testimony that” the accused product contains a particular claim limitation and the defendant “has proffered expert testimony that it does not. Upon careful review, it is clear that the resulting 'battle of experts' involves genuine disputes of material fact precluding judgment as a matter of law. Accordingly, the Court hereby denies both parties' motions for summary judgment.”

Court Rejects Trade Dress Protecton for Point-of-Sale Display as Functional

In a May 26, 2015 ruling, Judge P. Kevin Castel rejected trade dress protection for the counterclaim plaintiff’s point-of-sale display of its goods, and granted summary judgment to the counterclaim defendant.  The counterclaim plaintiff argued that although at least some of the elements of the claimed trade dress are functional, the Court must consider the “overall impression” created by the trade dress.  Judge Castel rejected that argument, quoting a Ninth Circuit case for the proposition that “where the whole is nothing other than the assemblage of functional parts, and where even the arrangement and combination of the parts is designed to result in superior performance, it is semantic trickery to say that there is still some sort of separate ‘overall appearance’ which is non-functional.”  The Court further noted that “where the only similarities between the parties’ trade dresses consist of unprotectable elements, a trade dress infringement claim must fail.”  Judge Castel concluded that recognizing trade dress protection for the counterclaim plaintiff’s display would confer on the counterclaim plaintiff “a marketing advantage based not on brand recognition or advertising prowess, but simply on its right to display its goods more effectively than its competitors.”

Court Declines to Enforce Patent Claim with Uncorrected Error

In a May 12, 2015 ruling, Judge Laura Taylor Swain granted summary judgment partially dismissing the plaintiff’s infringement action because the asserted claims in the patent-in-suit had an uncorrected error that was not evident from the face of the patent. The patent-in-suit issued with a clause that should have been added to one of the claims omitted from the as-issued patent. Judge Swain first found that the error “is not evident from the face of the patent, because the phrase from which it was omitted in [the claim at issue] makes grammatical sense and does not have obvious missing information. Moreover, there is no information on the face of the patent that would alert a reader to any missing limitation.” The Court further found that the omitted phrase was material because it had been added during prosecution specifically to avoid prior art. The Court concluded “that the undisputed material facts direct the conclusion that [the claim at issue in the patent-in-suit] was issued with an omitted material limitation, and that the error is not evident on the face of the patent. Therefore, the uncorrected independent patent claim cannot be asserted in this litigation,” nor can the dependent claims that depend from it.

Court Denies Priority to a Patent Claim, Thus Invalidating It Based on Prior Art

In a May 8, 2015 ruling, Judge P. Kevin Castel found a patent claim to be invalid over prior art despite the patentee’s claim of earlier priority for the claim at issue. Relying on Federal Circuit precedent, the Court noted where a defendant produces prior art with a date preceding the filing date of the patent at issue, the burden shifts to the patentee to provide evidence and argument at least creating an issue of fact that the claim is supported by the written description of the patent from which it claims priority. If the patentee does so, the burden shifts back to the defendant to show by clear and convincing evidence that the earlier written description does not support the claim. In invalidating the claim at issue, Judge Castel wrote:

Under the Videotek burden-shifting framework described earlier, the defendants met their initial burden of production by identifying prior art—the Flex Binders—which, the parties agree, would invalidate Claim 20 if it cannot claim the benefit of the ’640 Patent’s earlier filing date. It was then incumbent upon Chizmar to produce “evidence and argument” that creates a genuine issue of material fact with respect to whether the disclosures of the ’640 Patent satisfy the written description requirement. This Chizmar has failed to do. Accordingly, Claim 20 of the ’140 Patent is invalid as anticipated by the Flex Binders.

Court Suspends Liability Finding Pending Evidentiary Hearing on Whether Plaintiff Falsified Evidence

In an April 30, 2015 ruling and as a follow up to this post, Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein suspended his liability judgment of copyright liability against the defendants pending an evidentiary hearing on whether the defendants' newly discovered evidence "if credited, clearly establishes that Plaintiff attempted to commit a fraud upon this court, going so far as to fabricate evidence and to commit perjury"  Judge Hellerstein wrote that a "sufficient showing has been made to cause me to lose trust in the integrity of the trial testimony. As credibility is very much an issue, an evidentiary hearing is necessary."