Unsubstantiated Claim of “Extortive Litigation Tactics” No Basis for Attorneys’ Fee Award

The court denied defendant's motion for attorneys’ fees under 35 U.S.C. § 285 after plaintiff executed a covenant not to sue and dismissed its action. "[Defendant] argues that it is entitled to attorney fees because [plaintiff's] attempts to extract settlements from each of the defendants evidences bad faith. . . . While [defendant] presents a chart outlining the licensing fees paid by each defendant and calculates an average payment of $15,188 per defendant, [defendant] fails to fully substantiate its claim that [plaintiff] was engaged in extortive litigation tactics. Moreover, despite offering its subjective interpretation of [plaintiff's] decision to dismiss its infringement claims, [defendant] provides no other evidence of any improper settlement negotiations or that other defendants in the case were strong-armed into paying licensing fees."

Charge Lion LLC v. Semtech Corporation, 6-12-cv-00769 (TXED August 25, 2014, Order) (Love, M.J.)