Six Year Delay And Intervening Destruction of Prosecution Counsel's Files Do Not Justify Application of Laches

Following a jury trial and advisory jury verdict, the court found that laches did not apply even though plaintiff's patent counsel destroyed his prosecution files during plaintiff's delay of six years plus a few weeks. "[Prosecution counsel] never communicated directly with [the inventor], so that the file would not contain this type of communication. . . . [A]s to the destruction of drawings and logbooks, the Court finds that the lack of this type of evidence did not prejudice the Defendants. Second, the Court finds that destruction of invoices was similarly not prejudicial because the Defendants acknowledge that such invoices were independently procured by the Defendants from public litigation records."

Metso Minerals, Inc. v. Powerscreen International Distribution Limited, et. al., 2-06-cv-01446 (NYED December 8, 2011, Order) (Spatt, J.)