Litigation examples
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
Piedmont Energy Company v. Georgia Natural Gas Company (Del. Chancery Court) - Trial counsel for Piedmont Energy in action seeking a judicial declaration that Georgia Natural Gas Company ("GNGC") has no perpetual right under a buy-out option contained in an Amended and Restated Limited Liability Company Agreement of SouthStar Energy Services, LLC, a Delaware LLC jointly owned by Piedmont Energy and GNGC and that GNGC’s final option expires on November 1, 2009.
Daryle L. Doden v. Harris Steel, Inc. (Del. Chancery Court) - Trial counsel for Harris Steel, a wholly owned subsidiary of Nucor Corporation, in a suit arising out of a Stock Purchase Agreement pursuant to which Harris Steel acquired Ambassador Steel for approximately $185 million, subject to a post-closing true-up. Pending.
Cephalon v. Mylan Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Mylan Inc., Barr Laboratories, Inc. and Barr Pharmaceuticals, Inc. - Trial counsel for plaintiffs in Hatch-Waxman action over ANDAs for Cephalon drug AMRIX. Pending.
Gannett Satellite Information Network, Inc. v. Office Media Network (D.Del) - Lead trial counsel for plaintiff Gannett Satellite Information Network in suit alleging infringement of patents to systems for displaying information and advertising content in elevators. Settled favorably after Markman victory.
In re Brimonidine Patent Litigation, MDL No. 1866 (D. Del.) - Trial counsel for Allergan in multi-district litigation regarding multiple ANDAs for Allergan's glaucoma drugs, ALPHAGAN P .15% and ALPHAGAN P .1%. Pending.
Cephalon, Inc., et al v. Watson Pharmaceuticals, Inc., et al (D. Del.) - Trial counsel for plaintiffs in Hatch-Waxman action over ANDAs for Cephalon drug FENTORA. Pending.
Sciele Pharma, Inc., et al v. Mylan Labs., et al (D. Del.) - Trial counsel for plaintiffs in Hatch-Waxman action over ANDA for Sciele’s blood-pressure drug, SULAR. Case successfully resolved upon patent expiration.
NICE Systems, Ltd. and NICE Systems, Inc. v. Witness Systems, Inc. (D. Del.) - Trial counsel for Witness in patent infringement claim involving 10 patents in the fields of telecommunications, voice recording, databases and storage, VOIP conferencing and conference recording. Case settled favorably after mistrial and related litigation.
Polaroid Corp. v. Hewlett Packard Company (D. Del.) - Trial counsel for Hewlett Packard in suit alleging infringement of patent related to enhancement of electronic image data. Settled.
Anvik Corp. v. Chi Mei Optoelectronics Corp. (S.D.N.Y.) - Lead trial counsel for Chi Mei Optoelectronics in suit alleging infringement of patents related to a scanning microlithograpy system used in the production of liquid crystal displays (LCDs). Pending.
Sandata Technologies, Inc. v. First Data Government Solutions, Inc. (D.Del.) - Lead trial counsel for First Data Government Solutions in suit alleging infringement of patents related to a "telephone-based personnel tracking system." Settled.
Synopsys Inc. v. Magma Design Automation (D. Del.) - Trial counsel for Magma in case alleging that Magma's automated semiconductor chip design software infringed Synopsys patents. Case settled after Markman hearing and exchange of expert reports.
Power Integrations, Inc. v. Fairchild Semiconductor, Inc. (D. Del) - Trial counsel for plaintiff Power Integrations in a four patent case related to integrated circuits used in switch mode power supplies. In first phase of bifurcated trial, jury found willful infringement of all four patents by Fairchild and awarded Power Integrations $33.9 million in damages. In subsequent validity trial, jury found all four asserted patents valid.
CNX Gas Co. LLC Et Al v. CDX Gas, LLC (W.D. Pa.) - Lead trial counsel for counterclaim plaintiff CDX in suit alleging infringement of multiple patents direct to improved drilling methods for draining coal bed methane from coal seams. Case settled shortly before scheduled trial.
Guardian v. Hewlett Packard (D. Del) - Lead trial counsel for defendant Hewlett Packard in suit alleging infringement of patents related to the use of retardation films in twisted nematic liquid crystal displays (LCDs) to improve viewing angles. Dismissed with prejudice.
LMLPatent Corp. v. TeleCheck Services, Inc. (D. Del.) - Lead trial counsel for defendant TeleCheck in suit alleging patents related to electronic processing of checks at the point of sale through the Automated Clearing House (ACH) network. Plaintiff dropped two of three patents asserted after TeleCheck filed motion for summary judgment of invalidity. Case settled shortly before scheduled trial.
TeleCheck International, Inc. v. LML Payment Systems, Inc. (E.D. Tex.) - Lead trial counsel for plaintiff TeleCheck in suit alleging infringement of patents directed to methods and systems for interactive check authorizations using an electronic transaction terminal to gather transaction information at the point of sale. Case settled as part of global settlement and cross-license between parties.
Toshiba Corporation v. Juniper Networks, Inc., et al. (D. Del.) - Trial counsel for defendant Juniper Networks in case involving assertion of patents related to router technology. Toshiba stipulated that Juniper's products do not infringe based on the trial court's claim construction. Case settled shortly after Federal Circuit affirmed lower court judgment in favor of Juniper.
Commissariat À L'Energie Atomique v. Chi Mei Optoelectronics Corp. (D. Del.) - Lead trial counsel for defendant Chi Mei Optoelectronics in case alleging infringement of patents directed to compensating the birefringence of liquid crystal materials to improve the viewing angle of liquid crystal displays. Case settled after summary judgment briefing and after discovery sanctions were imposed on plaintiff Commissariat À L'Energie Atomique.
Commisariat À L’Energie Atomique v. Chi Mei Optoelectronics Corp. (N.D. Cal.) - Lead trial counsel for Chi Mei Optoelectronics. Companion case to Delaware case above. Voluntarily dismissed by plaintiff.
Honeywell International, Inc. Et Al. v. Apple Computer, Inc. (D. Del.) - Lead trial counsel for defendant International Display Technology in patent infringement case asserting patents directed to directional diffuser lens arrays for liquid crystal displays (LCDs). Settled.
Honeywell International, Inc. Et Al. v. Universal Avionics Systems Corp., et al. (D.Del.) - Trial counsel for defendant Sandel Avionics, Inc. in patent infringement suit. Successfully obtained verdict of no infringement of Honeywell patent on a ground proximity warning system. Same jury found co-defendant Universal Avionics infringed.
ArthroCare Corp. v. Smith & Nephew, Inc. - Lead counsel for Smith & Nephew, in a case alleging infringement of patents for RF electrosurgery instruments used in arthroscopic surgery. Case settled after lead patent found invalid on appeal.
TriStrata Technology, Inc. v. A.P. Pharma (D. Del.) - Lead trial counsel for A.P. Pharma in a suit alleging infringement of patents relating to alpha hydroxy skin treatments. Settled.
Whatman PLC v. Schleicher & Schuell BioScience (D. Del.) - Lead trial counsel for Schleicher & Schuell in a case relating to chemically treated paper matrices used to store and preserve DNA samples. Settled.
Stambler v. First Data Corporation (D.Del) - Lead trial counsel for defendant First Data in case asserting patents that directed to the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) protocol for conducting secure transactions over the internet. Case settled on eve of trial.
CIENA Corporation v. Corvis Corporation (D.Del) - Trial counsel for plaintiff CIENA. Case involved patents on wave division multiplexing and optical communications system. Successfully obtained jury verdicts in favor of CIENA finding infringement and upholding the validity of the asserted patents.
Genzyme v. Genentech (D. Del) - Lead trial counsel for plaintiff Genzyme in case asserting infringement of patent covering a modified tissue plasminogen activator used as a thrombolytic agent in acute myocardial infraction. Case settled for favorable cross-license.
Great Lakes Chemical Company v. Archmica SpA and BTP, plc (D. Del) - Lead trial counsel for defendant Archmica SpA, an Italian manufacturer of pharmaceutical intermediates. Great Lakes asserted method for the manufacture of N-tert-butyl-decahydro-(4aS,8aS)-isoquinoline-3(S)-carboxamide, a/k/a, "tic-d"), a starting material used in the manufacture of AIDS drugs. Jury found the process independently developed by Archmica, which addressed shortcomings inherent in the process taught in the patent, did not infringe literally or under the doctrine of equivalents. The method employed by Archmica was shown to use a substantially different way (very low temperature for the amine addition step) to achieve a substantially different and better result (super pure tic-d).
Power Integrations, Inc. v. Motorola, Inc. (D. Del) - Trial counsel for plaintiff Power Integrations in a five patent case related to various aspects of chips used in high voltage AC-to-DC power conversion. Verdict recognized by The National Law Journal as one of the Top Plaintiff's Verdicts of 1999. Jury found willful infringement by Motorola and awarded Power Integrations $32.2 million in damages. The jury further found that Power Integrations did not infringe any of the three Motorola patents-in-suit and found two of those patents invalid.
CORPORATE AND COMMERCIAL LITIGATION
Goya Foods, Inc. v. Unanue (Del. Chancery Court) - Trial counsel for Goya and its directors in suit brought under 8 Del. C. §225 to confirm shareholder action taken by written consent to remove a director and subsequently terminate long-standing CEO and COO of Goya. Following bench trial, Vice Chancellor Donald F. Parsons, Jr. found for Goya and its directors on all issues. Settled.
Unanue v. Unanue, 2004 WL 5383942 (Del. Ch. Nov. 9, 2004) - Lead trial counsel for current directors of Goya Foods, Inc. in suit by former officers and director for indemnification pursuant to 8 Del. C. § 145 and counterclaim for breaches of fiduciary duty and corporate waste. Settled.
Chase Manhattan Bank v. Iridium Africa et al. (D. Del) - Counsel for three defendants in action to enforce reserve capital call obligation. Clients were investors in failed Iridium LLC global communications company. Settled.