On March 2, 2020, Judge Gilstrap issued an Order granting-in-part Apple’s motion to dismiss a declaratory judgment claim by Optis to the extent the claim related to FRAND commitments for foreign standard essential patents (SEPs).   But he maintained the action as to FRAND commitments for U.S. patents.  This decision may be part of a trend for U.S. courts respecting comity with other countries by limiting disputes over SEPs and FRAND commitments to U.S. patents in the absence of consent by both parties to adjudicate issues concerning foreign SEPs.
Continue Reading Judge Gilstrap dismisses foreign SEP FRAND claims in global SEP feud, but maintains claims on US SEPs (Optic Wireless v. Apple)

Judge Gilstrap recently entered Final Judgment that included a 20% enhancement of damages based on a Jury Verdict that LG willfully infringed two patents that patent owner Core Wireless alleged to be essential to certain cellular standards.  This appears to be the first case of a court enhancing damages based on willful infringement of a standard essential patent.  Recall that Judge Gilstrap previously denied LG’s pre-trial motion to preclude finding willful infringement of an alleged standard essential patent, but indicated that he might consider LG’s policy arguments if he were to consider enhancing damages if the jury found that LG willfully infringed the patents (see our Sep. 7, 2016 post).

Judge Gilstrap has now ruled that he will enhance damages following the jury verdict that LG willfully infringed the patent, and he did so sua sponte, meaning that he enhanced damages without the patent owner filing a post-trial motion seeking such enhancement or the parties briefing same.  Judge Gilstrap has since stayed execution of the judgment while the parties file post-trial motions, which motions most likely will address the issue of willful infringement and enhanced damages.

Judge Gilstrap’s decision to enhance damages  was due to LG’s negotiation conduct and apparently weak infringement/validity defenses, which led him to conclude that “LG’s decision to terminate negotiations and continue operations without a license was driven by its resistance to being the first in the industry to take a license, and not by the merits or strength of its non-infringement and invalidity defenses.”
Continue Reading Judge Gilstrap enhances damages for willful infringement of SEPs (Core Wireless v. LG)

At the same time that Judge Gilstrap recently entered his bench trial ruling that rejected Metaswitch’s standards-based equitable defenses (see our Oct. 2, 2016 post), he also entered an Order that rejected Metaswitch’s request to set aside a jury’s verdict that it infringed valid patent claims based on, among other things, SEP-related grounds.  The ruling is interesting mainly due to the procedural issues it raises.  Judge Gilstrap did make a substantive ruling that the CableLabs, IETF and ITU-T intellectual property rights (IPR) agreements at issue applied on a patent claim-by-claim basis and not on a patent-by-patent basis (i.e., some claims in a patent may be subject to the IPR agreement, but other claims within that same patent may not).
Continue Reading Judge Gilstrap rejects SEP-based arguments to set aside jury infringement and damages verdict (Genband v. Metaswitch)

Judge Gilstrap recently denied accused infringer LG’s motion for summary judgment that alleged standard essential patents (“SEPs”) were not willfully infringed, letting that issue go to the jury;  if the jury finds willful infringement, then the court may decide whether and to what extent to enhance damages based on such willful infringement.  An important procedural point is that Judge Gilstrap did not rule that there was willful infringement in this case; rather, under the permissive summary judgment standard, he ruled that there was sufficient evidence to let the jury decide the issue.  He did rule as a matter of law, however, that there is no special rule for SEPs that precludes finding willful infringement or enhancing damages, and  he left the door open to consider policy arguments about SEPs subject to FRAND commitments when exercising discretion whether to enhance damages.
Continue Reading Judge Gilstrap rules that damages can be enhanced if SEPs subject to a FRAND commitment are willfully infringed (Core Wirless v. LG)