Thursday, May 28, 2015

No Judgment of Noninfringement as to Claims Abandoned Due to Court Ordered Narrowing

The court granted in part defendant's motion for judgment as a matter of law as to plaintiff's abandoned claims. "[Defendant] presents an issue that has not been directly addressed by the Federal Circuit and upon which at least two district courts disagree. . . . [I]t would be fundamentally unfair and plain error for the Court to enter judgment against [plaintiff] on all of its abandoned claims because [plaintiff] was under Court order to narrow its claims to thirty-five. On the other hand, with regard to the thirty-five claims that [plaintiff] litigated, [defendant] is entitled to judgment on its counterclaim. . . . Although [plaintiff] withdrew or voluntarily dismissed all but five claims, [defendant] did not amend its counterclaim [for declaratory judgment of non-infringement] to correspond to [plaintiff's] dismissals. Therefore, the Court concludes that [defendant] is entitled to judgment on the thirty claims that the Court allowed [plaintiff] to pursue through trial, but failed to offer evidence on at trial."

Eagle Harbor Holdings, LLC, et al v. Ford Motor Company, 3-11-cv-05503 (WAWD May 26, 2015, Order) (Settle, J.)

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