Edwards Lifesciences Corporation v. Meril Life Sciences Pvt. Ltd.

District Court, N.D. California·Decided November 10, 2021·No. 4:19-cv-06593·Unknown

Opinion

1 2 3 4 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 5 NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 6 7 EDWARDS LIFESCIENCES Case No. 19-cv-06593-HSG CORPORATION, et al., 8 ORDER DENYING PLAINTIFFS' Plaintiffs, MOTION FOR PARTIAL SUMMARY 9 JUDGMENT AND GRANTING AND v. DENYING ASSOCIATED 10 ADMINISTRATIVE MOTIONS TO MERIL LIFE SCIENCES PVT. LTD., et al., SEAL 11 Defendants. Re: Dkt. No. 209, 210, 217, 225, 239, 243 12 13 Pending before the Court is Plaintiffs Edwards Lifesciences Corporation’s and Edwards 14 Lifesciences LLC’s (collectively “Edwards” or “Plaintiffs”) Motion for Partial Summary 15 Judgment, for which briefing is complete. Dkt. Nos. 210 (“Mot.”); 226 (“Opp.”); and 240 16 (“Reply”). The parties have also filed associated administrative motions to seal (“Motions to 17 Seal”) portions of their briefs and exhibits. Dkt. Nos. 209, 217, 225, 239, 243. For the following 18 reasons, Plaintiffs’ Motion for Partial Summary Judgment is DENIED and their Motions to Seal 19 are GRANTED and DENIED. 20 I. BACKGROUND 21 Because this case has been actively litigated, the Court limits its review of the factual and 22 procedural background to that relevant to the pending motions. Defendants Meril Life Sciences 23 Pvt. Ltd. and Meril, Inc. (collectively “Meril” or “Defendants”) are an India-based, global medical 24 device company that created a “Myval” branded transcatheter heart valve. Dkt. No. 98 at 1. 25 Plaintiffs supply medical devices for the treatment of heart disease, including artificial heart 26 valves. Id. at 2. Among their best-known products are “SAPIEN®” transcatheter prosthetic heart 27 valves. Id. 1 and Common Law Trademark Infringement in violation of 15 U.S.C. § 1114 and the common law; 2 (2) Unfair Competition in violation of 15 U.S.C. § 1125(a); and (3) Unfair Competition and False 3 Advertising in violation of §§ 17200 and 17500 of the California Business and Professions Code. 4 Dkt. No. 51 (or “FAC”) ¶¶ 96-111. In their statutory and common law trademark infringement 5 claim, Plaintiffs allege that Defendants infringed their PARTNER trademark by using the phrase 6 “Partner the Future” at the 2019 TCT Conference in San Francisco; at the 2019 EuroPCR 7 Conference in Paris, France; and in promotional materials related to those two events. Id. ¶¶ 20- 8 22, 49-52. In their Lanham Act and California unfair competition law (UCL) claims, Plaintiffs 9 allege that Defendants made several false or misleading statements associated with their presence 10 at cardiovascular conferences. Id. ¶¶ 41-52. Defendants allegedly made these statements at 11 various cardiovascular conferences and on the internet, including via their websites and social 12 media accounts on Facebook, YouTube, and LinkedIn, as well as numerous email “blasts.” See 13 Mot. at 5-6. 14 II. LEGAL STANDARD 15 Summary judgment is proper when a “movant shows that there is no genuine dispute as to 16 any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a). 17 A fact is “material” if it “might affect the outcome of the suit under the governing law.” Anderson 18 v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 248 (1986). And a dispute is “genuine” if there is evidence 19 in the record sufficient for a reasonable trier of fact to decide in favor of the nonmoving party. Id. 20 But in deciding if a dispute is genuine, the court must view the inferences reasonably drawn from 21 the materials in the record in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party, Matsushita Elec. 22 Indus. Co. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 587–88 (1986), and “may not weigh the evidence 23 or make credibility determinations,” Freeman v. Arpaio, 125 F.3d 732, 735 (9th Cir. 1997), 24 overruled on other grounds by Shakur v. Schriro, 514 F.3d 878, 884–85 (9th Cir. 2008). If a court 25 finds that there is no genuine dispute of material fact as to only a single claim or defense or as to 26 part of a claim or defense, it may enter partial summary judgment. Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a). 27 III. DISCUSSION 1 A. Motion for Partial Summary Judgment 2 The elements of a Lanham Act false advertising claim are: (1) a false statement of fact by 3 the defendant in a commercial advertisement about its own or another’s product; (2) the statement 4 actually deceived or had the tendency to deceive a substantial segment of its audience; (3) the 5 deception is material, in that it is likely to influence the purchasing decision; (4) the defendant 6 caused its false statement to enter interstate commerce; and (5) the plaintiff has been or is likely to 7 be injured as a result of the false statement, either by direct diversion of sales from itself to 8 defendant or by a lessening of the goodwill associated with its products. See Southland Sod 9 Farms v. Stover Seed Co., 108 F.3d 1134, 1139 (9th Cir. 1997). 10 Plaintiffs appear to move for partial summary judgment as to the first and fourth elements 11 of their seventh and eighth claims for false advertising and unfair competition under the Lanham 12 Act. See Mot. at 1 (“[Plaintiff] move[s] the Court for partial summary judgment on the issues of 13 falsity and use in interstate commerce, the first and fourth elements of Edwards’ seventh and 14 eighth claims for false advertising and unfair competition under the Lanham Act”) and 2 15 (“Summary judgment on the issues of falsity and use in commerce, the first and fourth elements of 16 Edwards’ false advertising claims, is warranted with respect to the misrepresentations addressed 17 herein”). 18 i. Falsity 19 Although the first Lanham Act element requires “a false statement of fact by the defendant 20 in a commercial advertisement about its own or another’s product,” Plaintiffs’ motion fails to 21 address whether any or all of the statements in question qualify as “commercial advertisements.” 22 See Southland Sod Farms, 108 F.3d at 1139 (emphasis added). Instead, in response to 23 Defendants’ Opposition Brief, Plaintiffs devote a significant portion of their Reply Brief to 24 arguing, for the first time, that Defendants’ false statements are commercial advertisements. See 25 Reply at 2-6. 26 This is improper. Plaintiffs’ motion for partial summary judgment as to the first element 27 of the Lanham Act is denied because Plaintiffs’ Motion does not address whether Defendants’ 1 allegedly false statements were “in a commercial advertisement” and they cannot do so for the 2 first time in a reply brief. See Zamani v. Carnes, 491 F.3d 990, 997 (9th Cir. 2007) (“The district 3 court need not consider arguments raised for the first time in a reply brief.”). Having denied 4 Plaintiffs’ request for partial summary judgment as to the first element of the Lanham Act, the 5 Court finds it inefficient to use Rule 56 to engage in piecemeal summary disposition of the 6 remaining discrete and plainly disputed factual issues and therefore declines to do so.1 See Fed. R. 7 Civ. P. 56(g); Fed. R. Civ. P. 56

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Edwards Lifesciences Corporation v. Meril Life Sciences Pvt. Ltd., (N.D. Cal. 2021).

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