Dish Network Corp. v. Arrowood Indemnity Co.

772 F.3d 856, 43 Media L. Rep. (BNA) 1001, 2014 U.S. App. LEXIS 22566, 2014 WL 6679631
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
DecidedNovember 25, 2014
Docket13-1457
StatusPublished
Cited by30 cases

This text of 772 F.3d 856 (Dish Network Corp. v. Arrowood Indemnity Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Dish Network Corp. v. Arrowood Indemnity Co., 772 F.3d 856, 43 Media L. Rep. (BNA) 1001, 2014 U.S. App. LEXIS 22566, 2014 WL 6679631 (10th Cir. 2014).

Opinion

BRISCOE, Chief Judge.

Plaintiffs DISH Network Corporation and DISH Network LLC filed this action seeking a declaratory judgment that their commercial general liability and excess liability insurers (collectively the Insurers), Arch Specialty Insurance Company (Arch), Arrowood Indemnity Company (Arrowood), Travelers Indemnity Company of Illinois (Travelers), XL Insurance America, Inc. (XL), and National Union Fire Insurance Company of Pittsburgh, Pa. (National Union^), had a duty to defend and indemnify plaintiffs in an underlying patent infringement action. The district court granted summary judgment in favor of the Insurers, plaintiffs appealed, and this court reversed and remanded for further proceedings. DISH Network Corp. v. Arch Spec. Ins. Co., 659 F.3d 1010 (10th Cir.2011) (DISH I). On remand, the Insurers moved again for summary judgment, but on different grounds than before. The district court granted the Insurers’ motions, and plaintiffs appealed. Exercising jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291, we affirm.

I

DISH Network Corporation is a Nevada corporation with its principal place of business in Englewood, Colorado. DISH Network LLC is a Colorado limited liability company with its principal place of business in Englewood, Colorado. DISH Network LLC is an indirectly, wholly-owned subsidiary of DISH Network Corporation. These two entities, which will be referred to collectively as DISH, 1 provide direct-to-the-home satellite television products and services, including video and audio programming, to more than 14 million paying subscribers.

Dish’s insurance policies

“Between 2001 and 2004, Dish purchased ... primary and excess commercial general liability policies ... from the five defendant Insurers.” DISH I, 659 F.3d at 1013. “Primary insurance is provided by Arrowood and Travelers, while XL, Arch, and National Union are responsible for excess coverage if the primary policies are exhausted.” Id.

“All of the policies promise to defend and indemnify Dish against claims alleging ‘advertising injury,’ among other things.” Id. “Most of the policies define ‘advertising injury’ ” in the following manner:

“Advertising Injury” means injury arising out of one or more of the following offenses:
1. Oral or written publication of material that slanders or libels a person or organization or disparages a person’s.or organization’s goods, products or services;
2. Oral or written publication of material that violates a person’s right to privacy;
3. Misappropriation of advertising ideas or style of doing business; or
4.Infringement of copyright, title or slogan.

Id. The National Union policy differs slightly, “limiting] coverage to ‘injury *860 arising solely out of your advertising activities as a result of one or more of the four types of offenses.” Id. (emphasis added in DISH I)- Likewise, the Arch policy defines the phrase “advertising injury” differently, referring to it, in pertinent part, as “[t]he use of another’s advertising idea in your ‘advertisement.’ ” Id. In addition, the Arch policy “contains a clause excluding from coverage ‘any claim ... [a]rising out of the infringement of copyright, patent, trademark, trade secret or other intellectual propferty rights.’ ” Id. This exclusion “does not apply to infringement, in [the insured’s] ‘advertisement,’ of copyright, trade dress or slogan.” Id. (internal quotation marks omitted).

The underlying patent infringement suit

In approximately 2007, Dish became the defendant in a patent infringement suit brought in the Northern District of California by Ronald A. Katz Technology Licensing, L.P. (RAKTL). According to RAKTL’s complaint, RAKTL’s patents related to “the field of interactive call processing” and “the integration of telephonic systems with computer databases and live operator call centers to provide interactive call processing services.” Id. at 1013. RAKTL’s complaint further alleged that Dish

had infringed one or more claims in each of twenty-three patents ... by “making, using, offering to sell, and/or selling ... automated telephone systems, including without limitation the DISH Network customer service telephone system, that allow [Dish’s] customers to perform pay-per-view ordering and customer service functions over the telephone.”

Id. at 1012-13.

The initiation and initial resolution of this action

“On receiving RAKTL’s complaint, Dish requested a defense from Insurers, who denied coverage.” Id. at 1014. “Dish then brought this suit, seeking a judgment declaring that Insurers had a duty to defend and indemnify it in the underlying-action.” Id. “Dish also sued for damages for breach of contract and Insurers’ duty of good faith and fair dealing.” Id.

The district court, in response to the Insurers’ motions, granted summary, judgment in their favor. “Applying Colorado law, the district court concluded that a claim for patent infringement, such as the one [asserted by RAKTL against Dish], could properly give rise to coverage, or even the specter of coverage, such that an insurer will have a duty to defend.” Id. (internal quotation marks omitted). “The' duty would arise, the court stated, where the insured established three elements: first, that it was engaged in ‘advertising’ during the relevant period; second, that the underlying complaint alleged a predicate offense under the policy language; and third, that a causal connection existed between the advertising and the alleged injury suffered by the patent holder.” Id.

The district court concluded, for purposes of the Insurers’ summary judgment motion, “that RAKTL’s reference to ‘customer service functions’ in its complaint was sufficient to allege that Dish engaged in ‘advertising.’” Id. “The [district] court rejected, however, Dish’s argument that its use of a patented interactive telephone system to advertise could constitute ‘misappropriation of advertising ideas or style of doing business,’ the sole predicate offense on which Dish relied.” Id. The court explained that “[t]he [RAKTL] complaint focuses on [Dish]’s use of these, patented technologies as- a means of conveying content to and tailoring its interactions with its customers.” Id. (internal quotation marks omitted).

*861 Consequently, the district court did not “address[ ] the third element of its test— causation — or the additional arguments certain insurers had raised under their individual policies.” Id.

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772 F.3d 856, 43 Media L. Rep. (BNA) 1001, 2014 U.S. App. LEXIS 22566, 2014 WL 6679631, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dish-network-corp-v-arrowood-indemnity-co-ca10-2014.