Stay Pending Reexam Denied for “Litigation Armageddon”

The court denied defendants' motion to stay pending ex parte and inter partes reexamination of the four patents-in-suit because the potential for simplification did not favor a stay. "Reexamination will not markedly simplify the issues in this case. It may slightly alter them but it will not simplify them. . . . [T]he whole concept of 'simplification of the issues' is somewhat imaginary here given the nature of the dispute and the vigor with which the parties have pursued it in three different forums around the world. This case is a clash that involves allegations of unfair competition and espionage presented through the prism of a patent-focused dispute. While the USPTO rejecting some claims could theoretically narrow the scope of the patents in dispute, the reality (based on what the Court has seen thus far) is that this litigation [is] armageddon."

Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corporation v. POSCO, et. al., 2-12-cv-02429 (NJD May 2, 2013, Order) (Falk, M.J.).