Yesterday, a jury returned a verdict finding that Fujitsu had breached its standard-setting obligations to offer its declared ‘737 Patent (now expired) to Tellabs on reasoanble and non-discriminatory terms (RAND). Judge Holderman then issued an order to show to cause why the patent should not be held unenforceable as to Tellabs. This case presents many
RAND
Belkin dismissed with prejudice pursuant to settlement agreement in Ericsson v. D-Link (E.D. Tex.)
Last summer, we reported on a jury verdict and post-trial rulings in favor of SEP patent holder Ericsson in its infringement suit against several manufacturers of WiFi-compliant products. As we noted, the jury awarded several million dollars for infringement of Ericsson’s 802.11-essential patents. Thereafter, several defendants took an appeal to the Federal Circuit, which is…
Judge Holderman rules on motions in limine and issues preliminary jury instructions and verdict form to shape RAND trial in Fujitsu, Ltd. v. Tellabs, Inc.
Last week, Judge Holderman issued several orders on various motions in limine filed by Fujitsu and Tellabs in advance of the jury trial of the case, which began this past Monday. The jury will decide whether Fujitsu breached its alleged obligation to offer Tellabs a license to Fujitsu’s ‘737 patent on reasonable and non-discriminatory terms…
Judge Whyte’s post-trial ruling provides twist on declaring how LSI must comply with RAND obligation (Realtek v. LSI)
Today Judge Whyte issued his awaited post-trial rulings following the jury’s RAND determination on LSI’s IEEE 802.11 WiFi patents in which he (1) denied JMOL motions by both Realtek and LSI, (2) ruled on Realtek’s injunction and declaratory relief requests by denying Realtek’s request to enjoin LSI from seeking to enforce RAND-obligated patents without first…
Appeal of Judge Robart’s RAND ruling transfered to Ninth Circuit (Microsoft v. Motorola)
Today the Federal Circuit (Lourie, Dyk and Reyna) granted Microsoft’s motion to transfer Motorola’s appeal of Judge Robart’s RAND ruling to the Ninth Circuit, settling the parties dispute whether the Federal Circuit or Ninth Circuit has appellate jurisdiction over this particular appeal (see our Dec. 16, 2013 post and prior posts summarizing transfer…
Federal Circuit rules no per se prohibition against injunctions for standard essential patents (Apple v. Motorola)
Today the Federal Circuit issued its long-awaited decision in the appeal from Judge Posner’s ruling that denied both Motorola and Apple damages and injunctive relief in Apple v. Motorola. Among other things, the Federal Circuit ruled that there is no per se rule that prohibits a party from seeking injunctive relief on a standard essential…
N.D. Cal. excludes expert damages testimony that based royalty rate on patents’ hold-up value
With standard-essential-patent (SEP) damages discussions frequently focused on how to calculate a RAND rate, one can sometimes forget that not all SEPs are subject to [F]RAND obligations, which raises the issue whether and to what extent a reasonable royalty rate would be different between RAND and non-RAND encumbered patents. Last week, N.D. Cal. Judge Lucy…
Jury finds BlackBerry did not infringe NXP’s alleged standard essential patents (NXP v. BlackBerry)
Yesterday, a Florida jury returned a verdict that BlackBerry did not infringe NXP’s patents alleged to be essential to the IEEE 802.11 WiFi and JEDEC eMMC standards and that the asserted patent claims were invalid. The role of BlackBerry’s standard essential patent defenses is not clear from the record, though it appears to have been…
SanDisk sues PAE Round Rock for antitrust violations, breach of contract involving enforcement of former Micron patents
SanDisk brought suit against Round Rock Research in the District of Delaware last week, alleging that the patent assertion entity’s acquisition and enforcement of standard essential patents previously held by Micron Technology has violated federal and state antitrust laws and breached contractual commitments to license the patents on RAND terms. The action, Sandisk Corporation v.
Qualcomm and Nokia submit amici curiae briefs to the Federal Circuit in Ericsson v. D-Link appeal
Qualcomm and Nokia weighed-in on the Ericsson v. D-Link appeal yesterday, each filing amici curiae briefs with the Federal Circuit. The parties’ positions favored the patent owner, though each adopted different approaches to the issues on appeal. Qualcomm focused on the fact-specific contractual nature of RAND commitments that patent owners rely on based on an…