eTool Development, Inc. v. National Semiconductor Corp.

881 F. Supp. 2d 745, 2012 WL 3112132, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 106494
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Texas
DecidedJuly 31, 2012
DocketCase No. 2:08-CV-196-WCB
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 881 F. Supp. 2d 745 (eTool Development, Inc. v. National Semiconductor Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
eTool Development, Inc. v. National Semiconductor Corp., 881 F. Supp. 2d 745, 2012 WL 3112132, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 106494 (E.D. Tex. 2012).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

WILLIAM C. BRYSON, Circuit Judge.

Before the Court is the plaintiffs’ motion for reconsideration of orders granting the defendant’s motions for summary judgment of noninfringement based on the “specialty component” and “formulation” limitations of the patent in suit (Dkt. No. 368). The Court DENIES the motion.

I. Background

In the underlying lawsuit, plaintiffs eTool Development, Inc., and eTool Patent Holdings Corp. (collectively, “eTool”) allege that National Semiconductor Corporation’s WEBENCH system infringes several claims of U.S. Patent No. 7,113,919 (“the '919 patent”). Following claim construction, National filed motions for summary judgment in which it argued that its accused products do not infringe the “specialty component” and “formulation” limitations of the asserted claims as those terms were construed by the Court. Following full briefing and oral argument, the Court issued an order on December 27, 2011, granting National’s motion for summary judgment on the “specialty component” limitation of the asserted claims of the '919 patent. After reviewing the parties’ submissions, the Court agreed with National that the evidence offered by eTool failed to show that there is a genuine dispute of material fact with respect to that limitation. Dkt. No. 359. Several weeks later, the Court issued an order in which the Court granted National’s motion for summary judgment on the “formulation” limitation of the asserted claims of the '919 patent. After again reviewing the parties’ submissions, the Court agreed with National that the evidence offered by eTool failed to show that there is a genuine dispute of material fact with respect to that limitation. Dkt. No. 362 at 17-24. Because each of the asserted claims of the '919 patent contains both the “specialty component” limitation and the “formulation” limitation, the Court held that eTool’s failure to show that it could survive summary judgment on either of those limitations meant that all of eTool’s infringement claims had to be dismissed.

On February 10, 2012, eTool filed a motion for reconsideration of both of the Court’s noninfringement orders. Dkt. No. 368. As part of its motion, eTool attached ten exhibits and a supplemental declaration from its expert, Dr. Oded Gottesman. To Dr. Gottesman’s declaration, eTool attached an additional 30 exhibits, consisting of thousands of pages and more than 100 individual files. All of the new evidence pertains to the claim term “specialty component.” eTool contends that its supplementation of the record in its motion for reconsideration is justified because the Court, in its orders granting summary judgment of noninfringement, “altered Judge Ward’s claim construction,” and that the new evidence was needed to “address! J this new claim construction.”1 [748]*748National opposes eTool’s attempt to supplement the record and argues that the motion for reconsideration should be denied.

For the following reasons, the Court agrees with National and denies eTool’s motion for reconsideration.

II. Applicable Legal Standard for Reconsideration

Because the Court’s summary judgment orders were not part of a final judgment in this case, eTool’s motion for reconsideration falls under Rule 54(b) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, which provides in pertinent part that an order “that adjudicates fewer than all the claims or the rights and liabilities of fewer than all the parties does not end the action as to any of the claims or parties and may be revised at any time before the entry of a judgment.” Under that rule, a district court has the discretion to reconsider and revise its prior orders without the timing restrictions and jurisdictional constraints that limit the court’s authority to amend a judgment under Rules 59(e) or 60(b) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. See Saqui v. Pride Cent. Am., LLC, 595 F.3d 206, 210-11 (5th Cir.2010); Lavespere v. Niagara Mach. & Tool Works, Inc., 910 F.2d 167, 185 (5th Cir.1990).

Although the source of the court’s authority to revise or amend an order or judgment is different for interlocutory orders than for final orders or judgments, many of the same policy considerations apply both to motions for reconsideration under Rule 54(b) and to motions for reconsideration under Rule 59(e). Accordingly, district courts (including this court) frequently apply the same standards to the two. See Triton Tech of Tex., LLC v. Nintendo of Am., Inc., No. 2:10-CV-328, 2012 WL 2036411, at *1 (E.D.Tex. June 6, 2012) (Gilstrap, J.) (“It is this Court’s practice to consider motions to reconsider interlocutory orders under the standard of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 59(e).”); Jacoby v. Trek Bicycle Corp., No. 2:11— CV-124, 2011 WL 3240445, at *1 (E.D.Tex. July 28, 2011) (Ward, J.) (same); Morgan v. Plano Indep. Sch. Dist., No. 4:04-CV-447, 2008 WL 686711, at *1 (E.D.Tex. Mar. 10, 2008) (Schell, J.) (“Rule 59(e) furnishes the appropriate standard” for reconsideration of an interlocutory order); Helena Labs. Corp. v. Alpha Scientific Corp., 483 F.Supp.2d 538, 539 (E.D.Tex.2007) (Clark, J.) (applying Rule 59(e) standard to motion for reconsideration of order granting partial summary judgment); see also Nierman v. Ohio Cas. Ins. Co., No. 10-0319, 2012 WL 1039683, at *3 (W.D.La. Mar. 28, 2012) (same considerations that apply to Rule 59(e) motions apply to Rule 54(b) motions, including “whether the movant is attempting to rehash its previously made arguments or is attempting to raise an argument for the first time without justification”); Brown v. Wichita Cnty., Tex., No. 7:05-CV-108-0, 2011 WL 1562567, at *3 (N.D.Tex. Apr. 26, 2011) (“considerations similar to those under Rules 59 and 60 inform the Court’s analysis”); Iniekpo v. Avstar Int’l Corp., No. SA-07-CV-879-XR, 2010 WL 1190810, at *1 (W.D.Tex. Mar. 25, 2010) (“This Court utilizes the standards of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 59 to inform its analysis in considering a motion for reconsideration [of an interlocutory order].”); Berk-Cohen Assocs., LLC v. Landmark Am. Ins. Co., Nos. 07-9205, 07-9207, 2009 WL 3738152, at *2 (E.D.La. Nov. 5, 2009) (discretion to reconsider interlocutory orders “is exercised sparingly to forestall the perpetual reexamination of orders and the resulting [749]*749burdens and delays”); T-M Vacuum Prods., Inc. v. TAISC, Inc., No. H-07-4108, 2008 WL 2785636, at *2 (SD.Tex. July 16, 2008) (“Rule 59(e) legal standards are applied to motions for reconsideration of interlocutory orders.... Like a motion under Rule 59(e), a motion to reconsider may not be used to relitigate old matters, or to raise arguments or present evidence that could have been raised before the entry of the judgment or order.”).

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Bluebook (online)
881 F. Supp. 2d 745, 2012 WL 3112132, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 106494, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/etool-development-inc-v-national-semiconductor-corp-txed-2012.