Intellectual Property News

Case Summaries

Intellectual Property

[02/05] SEB S.A. v. Montgomery Ward & Co., Inc.
In a patent infringement action by a French company that specializes in home-cooking appliances against a Hong Kong corporation, involving a patent which claims a deep fryer with an inexpensive plastic outer shell or skirt, judgment of the district court is affirmed where: 1) there is no manifest of injustice in honoring a jury's finding of infringement under the doctrine of equivalents; 2) there is no prejudice to defendant in the district court's conclusion at the preliminary injunction stage that prosecution history estoppel did not apply; 3) the district court did not err in admitting plaintiff's expert testimony; 4) the jury's finding of inducement is justified, and the damage award, even if it was based on inducement alone, stands; 5) district court did not abuse its discretion in denying defendant's motion for JMOL on discovery misconduct grounds; 6) district court did not abuse its discretion in declining to grant a new trial to defendant based on the summation of plaintiff's counsel; and 7) there is no detectable error in district court's decision to set aside its original awards of enhanced damages and attorney's fees.

[02/05] ResQNet.com, Inc. v. Lansa, Inc.
In a patent infringement action involving a technology relating to screen recognition and terminal emulation processes that download a screen of information from a remote mainframe computer onto a local personal computer, the decision of the district court is affirmed in part, reversed in part, vacated and remanded where: 1) district court's judgment that plaintiff's patent is valid and is infringed by defendant is affirmed; 2) district court's ruling that another of plaintiff's patents is not infringed is affirmed; 3) district court's imposition of sanctions under Rule 11 against plaintiff and its counsel is reversed; and 4) district court's award of damages of $506,305 for past infringement based on a hypothetical royalty of 12.5%, plus prejudgment interest is vacated and remanded for redetermination of damages.

[01/29] Latin American Music Co. v. American Soc'y of Composers Authors & Publishers
In parties' dispute over the rights to a song, jury verdict in favor of the defendants is affirmed where: 1) district court did not err in instructing the jury with respect to a 1982 contract; 2) district court did not err in refusing to give a missing witness instruction; and 3) plaintiff's remaining claims are rejected.

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