"Boise Law Firm Wins Reversal of $2.5 Million Verdict in Federal Appeals Court," Idaho Business Review (Aug. 12, 2009)
Click Here for PDFA Boise law firm won a case in federal appeals court Aug. 4 that reversed a $2.5 million verdict against its two clients and attracted attention from intellectual property attorneys across the country.
Zarian, Midgley and Johnson PLLC announced Aug. 11 that attorney Peter Midgley was victorious in a case – Exergen Corp. v. Wal Mart Stores Inc. – before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
Midgley, who argued the case before the Federal Circuit in Washington D.C., represented S.A.A.T. Systems Application of Advanced Technology Ltd. (SAAT), an Israeli company that manufactures infrared thermometers used to measure human body temperature, and Daiwa Products Inc., a distributor of the thermometers in the United States.
The Federal Circuit reversed a jury verdict that the two companies had willfully infringed three patents held by Exergen Corp.
“Not only did we obtain reversal of the jury’s $2.5 million damage award, but we also invalidated one of Exergen’s three asserted patents,” Midgley said in a statement. “This was a hard-fought case and a very significant victory for our clients.”
The case also seems to have broader patent and trademark law implications. Major legal publications have written about it, and attorneys have been blogging about it.
The decision “puts the patent bar on notice that vague claims of another lawyer’s intent to mislead or withhold data from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office will no longer fly,” according to a National Law Journal article.
“Lawyers defending patent infringement cases frequently accuse the other side of such misconduct – referred to as inequitable misconduct – which can disqualify a patent or some of its claims,” according to the article. “Attorneys say misconduct accusations are so frequent and frivolous that they're significantly driving up the cost of patent litigation.”
Midgley said in a statement that the issue was a “minor” part of the appeal and did not affect the outcome of the case, though he agreed that it was a “significant development.”
“The Federal Circuit took the opportunity to establish new legal standards by which future claims of inequitable conduct will be governed,” he said. “It heightens the standard for pleading claims of inequitable conduct against patent holders and now requires that litigants be very specific in making such allegations. Under this new standard, many claims of inequitable conduct pending today would likely fail.”
Established in 2007, Zarian Midgley is a boutique law firm specializing in intellectual property matters (especially patent law), intellectual property litigation and complex business litigation.
By Simon Shifrin, Idaho Business Review