Rule 11 Sanctions of $222,937 Awarded Against Plaintiff and Plaintiff’s Attorneys

The court granted defendant's concurrent motions for attorney fees under 35 U.S.C. § 285 and for sanctions under Rule 11 and awarded $222,937 jointly and severally against plaintiff and plaintiff's attorneys. "The conduct of both [plaintiff] and its lawyers in this litigation was plainly irresponsible and frivolous. . . . [E]ven though [defendant] gave [plaintiff] a [defendant] engineer's declaration, an invitation to inspect the source code at [its] offices, and the bill of materials for an accused device, [plaintiff] and its lawyers did not amend their infringement contentions (or even inspect the source code until much later). Instead, [plaintiff] boldly continued to assert its implausible (and, as the unrebutted evidence at summary judgment showed, impossible) theories of infringement. . . . Moreover, [plaintiff] failed to conduct an adequate investigation into the plausibility of its claims by refusing to do a teardown of the devices -- even after being informed that the devices did not contain or use the sensors as [plaintiff] alleged."

Smart Wearable Technologies Inc. v. Fitbit, Inc., 3-17-cv-05068 (CAND June 27, 2018, Order) (Chhabria, USDJ)