Pending Reexamination No Basis for Staying Confirmation of $450 Million Arbitration Award

The court denied defendants' motion to stay the court's ruling on plaintiff's motion to confirm an arbitration award pending final office actions in a pending reexamination because of the undue prejudice to plaintiff. "[T]his very issue was placed before and decided by the Arbitration Panel. . . . [T]he Panel ruled, '[t]he parties have clearly agreed to submit to arbitration all infringement, validity and enforceability issues arising from their dispute over the patents-at-issue.'. . . [Under 35 U.S.C. § 294] [t]he parties to an arbitration 'may agree that in the event a patent which is the subject matter of an award is subsequently determined to be invalid or unenforceable in a judgment rendered by a court of competent jurisdiction from which no appeal can or has been taken, such award may be modified. . . .' No such agreement exists in this case. . . . [W]hile a stay would certainly provide a strategic advantage to Defendants, it is not warranted on this record."

Bayer Cropscience AG, et al v. Dow Agrosciences LLC, et al, 2-12-cv-00047 (VAED January 15, 2016, Order) (Jackson, J.)