Intellectual Property Law

Magistrate Judge Leonard P. Stark: No Stay for Pending Litigation Against Infringer

By Karen E. Keller, Andrew A. Lundgren et al.

A pending appeal in the Federal Circuit between the same parties and involving the same patents is not enough to warrant a stay in pending litigation between the same parties and same patents in the district court. St. Clair Intellectual Property Consultants, Inc. v. Fujifilm Holdings Corp., C.A. No. 08-373-JJF-LPS, Memo. Op. (D. Del. Jan. 27, 2009). The defendant seeking the appeal was found to infringe the plaintiff's patents by a jury and the plaintiff brought the new action to seek damages for the defendant's infringement from the time of the earlier judgment to the present. The Court found that the fact that the defendant was already found to be an infringer and the prejudice to the plaintiff in delaying the action was too great to warrant a stay. Id. at 5. Further, the Court found that the damages issues will remain disputed regardless of the outcome of the appeal. Id. at 6. Finally, because this plaintiff has multiple suits against many defendants (including this one) that are currently coordinated for discovery and pretrial purposes, it would be inefficient for the Court to stay this one action. Id. at 6.

St. Clair Intellectual Property Consultants, Inc. v. Fujifilm Holdings Corp., C.A. No. 08-373-JJF-LPS, Memo. Op. (D. Del. Jan. 27, 2009).

Full post as published by Delaware IP Law Blog on February 03, 2009 (boomark / email).