No Litigation Misconduct for Fee Award

No Venue Change from ‘Virtual’ Office

By Deborah Elkins
Published: November 19, 2012
Tags: Intellectual Property, Judge Robert G. Doumar, U.S. District Court - Eastern District

In this suit alleging three defendants have infringed plaintiff’s patents regarding voice over Internet protocol, the Norfolk U.S. District Court denies a motion to transfer venue even though plaintiff company’s office in Arlington appears to be a “virtual” office with no permanent employees. Plaintiff Innovative Communications Technologies Inc. is a Delaware corporation with its principal [...]

Trademark Claim Support Alter Ego Theory

By Deborah Elkins
Published: November 7, 2012
Tags: Intellectual Property, Judge Rebecca Beach Smith, U.S. District Court - Eastern District

A softball association has stated a claim against an individual defendant based on a theory that he is the alter ego for defendant softball organization, supported in part by the association’s claims for trademark infringement. Plaintiff York Amateur Softball Association claims to own the service marks “Virginia Legends Fastpitch and Design” and “Virginia Legends.” It [...]

Detection Terms Construed in Patent Dispute

By Deborah Elkins
Published: November 5, 2012
Tags: Intellectual Property, Judge Mark Davis, U.S. District Court - Eastern District

In this dispute over a patent for detection of contraband, a Norfolk U.S. District Court issues its opinion detailing claim construction after the Markman hearing. At issue in this case is a single patent titled “Materials and Apparatus for the Detection of Contraband,” the ‘670 patent. The claims of the ‘670 patent are directed toward [...]

Rosetta Stone and Google drop trademark lawsuit

By The Associated Press
Published: November 1, 2012
Tags: Intellectual Property

ARLINGTON, Va. (AP) — Rosetta Stone Inc. and Google Inc. have agreed to dismiss a three-year old trademark infringement lawsuit between the two companies and made plans to work together to fight trademark abuse online. Rosetta Stone sued Google in 2009 for allowing rivals to advertise copycat software when Rosetta’s trademarks were used as search [...]

No Jurisdiction Over Unproven Patentee

By Deborah Elkins
Published: October 22, 2012
Tags: Intellectual Property, Judge T.S. Ellis III, U.S. District Court - Eastern District

In a Massachusetts company’s patent infringement suit against a German company, the Alexandria U.S. District Court dismisses the German company for lack of personal jurisdiction, as plaintiff has been unable to rebut defendant’s affidavit asserting it is not a patentee or assignee of the patent in issue. This patent declaratory judgment action presents the unusual [...]

Injunction Issued for ‘Diamonds Direct’ Mark

By Deborah Elkins
Published: October 22, 2012
Tags: Intellectual Property, Judge Henry E. Hudson, U.S. District Court - Eastern District

In this suit involving competing claims to the trademark “Diamonds Direct,” the Richmond U.S. District Court grants a preliminary injunction to defendant, who registered the mark with the Virginia State Corporation Commission after learning plaintiff, who had used the mark in North Carolina since 1996, planned to open a store in the Richmond market. Until [...]

Criminal charges filed in body armor trade secrets case

By The Associated Press
Published: October 19, 2012
Tags: Criminal, Federal Courts, Intellectual Property

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — Prosecutors indicted a South Korean company and five of its employees on Thursday for stealing the recipe for making Kevlar body armor from the DuPont Co. The indictment in U.S. District Court in Alexandria alleges that Kolon Industries engaged in a seven-year conspiracy to steal secrets on the manufacturing process for [...]

Tattoo Company in Contempt of Injunction

By Deborah Elkins
Published: October 15, 2012
Tags: Intellectual Property, Judge Mark Davis, U.S. District Court - Eastern District

A Norfolk U.S. District Court that granted a permanent injunction against defendants’ infringement of intellectual property owned by plaintiff tattoo art company finds defendants and Third Parties in contempt for failing to maintain and preserve business records and transferring assets to the Third Parties, but plaintiff has not proved that defendant has continued to display [...]

Joint Venture ‘Fraud’ Claim Dismissed

By Deborah Elkins
Published: October 15, 2012
Tags: Intellectual Property, Judge David J. Novak, Judge Robert E. Payne, U.S. District Court - Eastern District

A company that consulted on regulatory compliance for the pharmaceutical industry that had a joint venture with a software company to develop and market compliance software can sue the software company for a declaratory judgment that it’s part-owner of the copyright for the software that was developed and for breach of contract, but the Richmond [...]