Intellectual Property Law

Sue L. Robinson: Expert's Deposition Testimony Favored Over Competing Website Article

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

On Wednesday, District Judge Sue L. Robinson issued a summary judgment decision notable for its assessment of a party's expert evidence. Although the Court eventually granted defendant Cisco's motion for summary judgment of noninfringement, it rejected, as part of the claim construction process, Cisco's attempt to rely on an article written by its adversary's expert:

"Defendant does not cite its own expert in support of its argument [on the claim in issue]. Instead, defendant cites wi-fiplanet.com, a website that contains an article written by plaintiff's expert . . . . The court disagrees that this article supports defendant's contention . . . . The article does not say that a person of skill in the art would consider a controller to be separate from the access point, nor does it discuss the meaning of the term 'access point' as used in the '858 patent."

According to the Court, plaintiff's expert "directly contradict[ed] defendant's argument" at his deposition. In the evidentiary battle of the article versus the deposition, the deposition won.

Autocell Labs. Inc. v. Cisco Sys. Inc., C.A. No. 08-760-SLR (D. Del. Jan. 5, 2011) (Robinson, J.).

Full post as published by Delaware IP Law Blog on January 07, 2011 (boomark / email).