Expert’s “Yes and No” Answers to Leading Questions Insufficient to Support Invalidity Verdict

Following a jury trial which found plaintiff's call center system patent invalid, but did not specify a basis, the court granted plaintiff's motion for judgment as a matter of law as to defendant's written description and lack of enablement defense. "[Defendant's invalidity expert's] testimony consists of a series of 'yes' and 'no' answers to counsel’s leading questions, without providing any specific reason for giving such answers. While [the expert] did identify a page from the [patent-in-suit's] specification upon which he purportedly formed his opinion, he never explained how such evidence demonstrated that, to build a partitioned database, one skilled in the art would have to go through 'undue experimentation.' [The expert's] ipse dixit statements that the [patent-in-suit] failed the written description and enablement requirements cannot be sufficient to constitute clear and convincing evidence. Given that [the expert's] testimony is the only basis upon which Defendants attempted to invalidate the [patent-in-suit] under Section 112, the Court finds that no reasonable jury could have concluded that the [patent-in-suit] was invalid for lack of written description or for failing the enablement requirement."

Cassidian Communications, Inc. v. microDATA GIS, Inc. et al, 2-12-cv-00162 (TXED August 8, 2014, Order) (Gilstrap, J.)