Frolow v. Wilson Sporting Goods Co.

710 F.3d 1303, 106 U.S.P.Q. 2d (BNA) 1089, 2013 WL 1007716, 2013 U.S. App. LEXIS 5252
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
DecidedMarch 15, 2013
Docket2012-1185
StatusPublished
Cited by21 cases

This text of 710 F.3d 1303 (Frolow v. Wilson Sporting Goods Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Frolow v. Wilson Sporting Goods Co., 710 F.3d 1303, 106 U.S.P.Q. 2d (BNA) 1089, 2013 WL 1007716, 2013 U.S. App. LEXIS 5252 (Fed. Cir. 2013).

Opinions

Opinion for the court filed by Circuit Judge MOORE, in which Circuit Judge CLEVENGER joins with additional views, further additional views filed by Circuit Judge MOORE, and concurring opinion filed by Circuit Judge NEWMAN.

MOORE, Circuit Judge.

Jack L. Frolow appeals from the final judgment of the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey in favor of Wilson Sporting Goods Co. (Wilson). Among other issues, Mr. Frolow challenges the district court’s entry of summary judgment in favor of Wilson and the court’s entry of judgment as a matter of law (JMOL) at the close of Mr. Frolow’s case. Because the district court erred when it granted summary judgment, we reverse and remand for the reasons set forth below. We affirm the district court’s judgment for all other issues raised on appeal.

BACKGROUND

This case involves Wilson’s alleged breach of a License Agreement. Under the Agreement, Wilson agreed to pay Mr. Frolow royalties for “Licensed Article(s),” defined as “tennis rackets which are covered by one or more unexpired or otherwise valid claims” of Mr. Frolow’s U.S. Patent RE33,372 (’372 patent). Frolow v. Wilson Sporting Goods Co., No. 3:05-CV-4813, 2008 WL 8134447, at *3 (D.N.J. Mar. 31, 2008) (First Summary Judgment Order). Claim 20 is representative of the claims at issue, claiming a tennis racket with specific properties:

20. A complete tennis racket having at least a head portion and a handle portion, said handle having a grip portion suitably adapted for the hand to grip, the end of the grip portion being located at the handle portion end of the racket; said head portion supporting a string netting in a plane, said netting having vertical and horizontal strings ...;
said racket having a weight distribution providing for the center of percussion located at a distance Cp in inches from the end of the grip portion ...;
said racket having a weight distribution providing for the moment of inertia la in ounce-inches squared about said longitudinal axis ...;
and the magnitude of la is greater than 80 ounce-inches squared....

'372 patent col.14 1.37-col.l5 1.2. After conducting an audit, Mr. Frolow concluded that Wilson was not paying royalties on all the Licensed Articles and filed suit alleging that Wilson breached the License Agreement and infringed the '372 patent. Due to an arbitration provision in the Agreement, the court limited the breach of contract ease to determining which Wilson racket models were Licensed Articles. Frolow v. Wilson Sporting Goods Co., No. 05-4813, 2006 WL 891201, at *2-3 (D.N.J. Apr. 5, 2006). It also summarily dismissed Mr. Frolow’s patent infringement claim. Id. at *4.

The parties litigated the breach of contract issue, disputing whether forty-two racket models were Licensed Articles. Wilson moved for summary judgment that the accused racket models were not Licensed Articles, which the court granted in part. The court held that Wilson’s test data showed that thirty-seven of the forty-two racket models had a moment of inertia of eighty ounce-inches squared or less and thus did not fall within the scope of the [1307]*1307asserted claims. First Summary Judgment Order, 2008 WL 8184447, at *16-20.1 Mr. Frolow contested Wilson’s test data and pointed to the fact that Wilson had marked fourteen of the rackets with the '372 patent number, arguing that Wilson’s marking raised a genuine issue of material fact. The court rejected Mr. Frolow’s marking argument and concluded that Wilson’s marking had “no bearing on whether literal or doctrine of equivalents infringement has occurred.” Id. at *21. The court also declined to find that Wilson’s marking prevented it from challenging whether the accused racket models were Licensed Articles. Id. at *22. Finally, for five of the racket models at issue, the court determined that Mr. Frolow raised a genuine issue of material fact that those rackets were Licensed Articles and set the case for trial. Id. at *16-17.

After the final pretrial conference, Mr. Frolow alleged that 299 additional racket models were Licensed Articles. Wilson moved for summary judgment, contending that Mr. Frolow added the 299 racket models too late in the case and that Mr. Frolow failed to adduce any evidence that the 299 racket models were Licensed Articles. Wilson also produced an expert report that showed that 82 of the 299 racket models had a moment of inertia of eighty ounce-inches squared or less. Wilson did not, however, proffer any evidence for the remaining 217 rackets.

Mr. Frolow, in a declaration, contested Wilson’s test data for the 82 racket models and stated that Wilson had been paying royalties on the 299 racket models. Wilson contended that the payments were “inadvertent” and were “based on the mistaken belief’ that the models fell within the '372 patent claims. Reply Mem., at 9, Frolow v. Wilson Sporting Goods Co., No. 3:05-CV-4813 (D.N.J. July 26, 2010), ECF No. 120.

The district court granted Wilson’s motion for summary judgment, concluding that Mr. Frolow’s attempt to add the 299 racket models was untimely and violated the court’s prior orders. Frolow v. Wilson Sporting Goods Co., No. 05-4813, 2010 WL 5150161, at *4-5 (D.N.J. Dec. 13, 2010) (Second Summary Judgment Order). In addition, the court concluded that summary judgment was appropriate because Mr. Frolow failed to proffer any evidence that the rackets fell within the scope of the '372 patent claims. Id. at *5-6.

The parties then tried the issue of whether the five remaining racket models were Licensed Articles. After Mr. Frolow rested his case, the court entered JMOL that the rackets were not Licensed Articles. The court concluded that Mr. Frolow “adduced no testimony whatsoever concerning the head, handle, grip or strings” in the accused tennis rackets as required by the asserted claims, and that the parties did not stipulate to those facts. Frolow v. Wilson Sporting Goods Co., No. 05-4813, 2011 WL 2784093, at *3 (D.N.J. July 12, 2011) (JMOL Order). The court also concluded that “none of the documents admitted as evidence during trial contain any admissions regarding the head, handle, grip or strings” in the accused tennis rackets. Id. The court declined to take judicial notice of those facts because the string netting configuration of tennis rackets was subject to reasonable dispute. Id. at *4. The court denied Mr. Frolow’s [1308]*1308motion for a new trial, and he appealed.2 We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1295(a)(1).

Disoussion

I. Standard of Review

We review the grant of summary judgment under the law of the regional circuit, here the Third Circuit. Lexion Med., LLC v. Northgate Techs., Inc., 641 F.3d 1352, 1358 (Fed.Cir.2011). The Third Circuit reviews the grant of summary judgment de novo. Nicini v. Morra, 212 F.3d 798, 805 (3d Cir.2000) (en banc).

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Bluebook (online)
710 F.3d 1303, 106 U.S.P.Q. 2d (BNA) 1089, 2013 WL 1007716, 2013 U.S. App. LEXIS 5252, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/frolow-v-wilson-sporting-goods-co-cafc-2013.