Last month, Judge Williams granted a permanent injunction in Natera Inc. v. ArcherDX, Inc., C.A. No. 20-125-GBW (D. Del. Nov. 21, 2023). The Court unsealed the opinion on Friday, and I thought there were enough interesting things about it to warrant a short post.
The Court granted the injunction only in part, and permitted the defendant to continue using the personalized cancer monitoring product, referred to as "PCM," for "ongoing clinical trials, for updating old studies undergoing peer review, and for limited quality control." The parties also agreed that the injunction should exclude use …
Judge Andrews issued an opinion earlier this month regarding a permanent injunction in Wonderland Switzerland AG v. Evenflo Company, Inc., C.A. No. 18-1990-RGA (D. Del. July 5, 2022). Plaintiff in that case prevailed at a four-day bench trial in 2021, with a damages award of $343,680 (they sought $845,528, according to the draft PTO).
Plaintiff now moved for a preliminary injunction. The Court had held after trial, as part of its Georgia Pacific reasonable royalty analysis, that the parties were "direct competitors":
First, I previously held that "the parties are direct competitors in the industry of the patented invention." . . . Specifically, the parties do not dispute that Graco and Defendant directly compete in the car seat market. (See D.I. 195 at 2 (Defendant agreeing, " There is no dispute that Evenflo directly competes with Graco, Wonderland's customer in a large market for all-in-one car seats.")). Additionally, Plaintiff is the exclusive manufacturer of car seats sold by Graco in the United States. . . . Thus, if Graco loses a sale of a car seat, Plaintiff also loses a sale.
Judge Andrews rejected an apparent attempt to backtrack and argue that the parties were not competitors, in part because ...
Judge Andrews resolved a request for a permanent injunction in a patent case today, in a way I haven't seen before.
In Sunoco Partners Marketing & Terminals L.P. v. Powder Springs Logistics, LLC, C.A. No. 17-1390-RGA (D. Del.), the plaintiff won an infringement jury verdict in a trial last month.
The patents involve mixing gasoline with butane automatically, rather than through a process that involves manual intervention. The accused infringement involves the mixing of gasoline and butane on a pipeline.
Plaintiff immediately moved for a permanent injunction, and sought a hearing on the injunction on December 22 or 23, just before the holidays. The patent relevant to the permanent injunction expires in April …
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