Federal Circuit Upholds Willful Infringement Finding Despite Defendant’s Invalidity Defense

Maier_03In Bard Peripheral Vascular, Inc. v. W.L. Gore & Associates, Inc. 14-1114 – 2015-01-13, the Federal Circuit upheld a district court decision finding willful infringement.  To find willful infringement, “a patentee must show by clear and convincing evidence that the infringer acted despite an objectively high likelihood that its actions constituted infringement of a valid patent.” In re Seagate Tech., LLC, 497 F.3d 1360 (Fed. Cir. 2007)(en banc). If the objective test is met, the patentee also must show that the objective risk was known or should have been known to the infringer.  The Federal Circuit had previously remanded the present case because the district court failed to evaluate the threshold objective portion of the test.  When assessing the threshold objective portion of the test, the accused infringer’s defenses must be taken into account.

On remand, the district court determined that there was an objectively high likelihood that Gore’s actions constituted infringement.  In so finding, the court determined that Gore’s invalidity defense was not objectively reasonable.  The Federal Circuit agreed, noting that Gore would have needed to raise new evidence or theories not previously considered to reasonably conclude that the patent was invalid.

source: Maier & Maier, PLLC

345 South Patrick Street
Alexandria, VA 22314
www.maierandmaier.com

    • March 2024
      Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun
      « Jan    
       123
      45678910
      11121314151617
      18192021222324
      25262728293031
  • IP4all Weekly Bulletin

    You can subscribe to the weekly IP4ALL Bulletin.

  • IP Consulting Ltd. - Intellectual Property Consulting Agency
  • Landmark-TP
  • Ivan Georgiev - Rembrand
  • Global IP Attorneys - The world's leading address guide for patent,  trademark, copyright, intellectual property and IP attorneys. In just a few steps you can find your agency for registration and protection of your intellectual property, patent, design, copyright or trademark.
  • The Professional Sector Network is a referral and networking group that caters exclusively to leading firms with a history of excellence in the business, advisory and investment sectors.
  • Online source of information for the events and developments in the field of intellectual property worldwide
  • Jobs in USA
  • Become our partners
  • IP Basis®

  • IP Guide®