Confirmation of Validity in Reexam Alone Precludes Summary Judgment of Invalidity

The court denied defendant's motion for summary judgment that plaintiff's motor patents were invalid following reexamination which confirmed the patents' validity. "This Court is not persuaded by the defendants' insistence that it disregard the USPTO's findings upon reexamination; indeed, this Court determines that the USPTO's findings are, of themselves, sufficient to create a material issue of fact. . . . [E]ven assuming that the USPTO examiner applied the wrong standard in confirming the validity of [plaintiff's] patents, this Court cannot simply look the other way in the face of the patent examiner's findings. . . . [T]his Court accepts the USPTO's findings on reexamination of [plaintiff's] patents for what they are -- evidence of the patents' validity . . . and, when viewed in the light most favorable to [plaintiff], is sufficient to create a genuine issue of fact requiring trial on the issue of patent validity."

Broussard et. al. v. Go-Devil Manufacturing Co. of LA, Inc. d/b/a Go-Devil Manufacturers of Louisiana, Inc., 3-08-cv-00124 (LAMD January 6, 2014, Order) (Jackson, J.)