Docket No. 2012-1221
PROST, MAYER, REYNA
August 13, 2013
Summary: O2 appealed from DC decision finding the case exceptional under 35 USC § 285 and awarding attorney fees and costs to Monolithic (MPS). The two parties have been in litigation for over a ten years (five lawsuits). This appeal results from the DC finding of “vexatious litigation strategy” and “litigation misconduct” and the award of over $8 million to MPS. This was in part because O2 repeatedly sued MPS customers in order to prompt MPS to file DJ actions and then withdrew its claims and granted covenants not to sue “after substantial litigation had taken place”, including in front of the ITC. In this case, the DC found that “O2 employed its modus operandi” and the DC “assessed that this pattern amounted to a vexatious litigation strategy that would support a finding of exceptional case.” Regarding “litigation misconduct and unprofessional behavior”, the DC found that O2 “repeatedly misrepresented that the date of the schematics was computer-generated and not manually entered, having three witnesses testifying to the same” and “failed to conduct an investigation into the veracity of its representations.” The FC panel found no error with these conclusions and affirmed the DC decision.
Federal Circuit summaries 