In Re Koninklijke Philips Patent Litigation

District Court, N.D. California·Decided February 7, 2020·No. 4:18-cv-01885·Unknown

Opinion

Mmsiacnhdaeoln Pat.o S@anvdeonnaabtloe .(caodmm itted pro hac vice) jJsohnaartrheat@n Mve.n Sahbaler.rceot m(a d mitted pro hac vice) John D. Carlin (admitted pro hac vice) Joshua D. Calabro (admitted pro hac vice) jcarlin@venable.com jdcalabro@venable.com Natalie Lieber (admitted pro hac vice) Daniel A. Apgar (admitted pro hac vice) ndlieber@venable.com dapgar@venable.com Christopher M. Gerson (admitted pro hac vice) Robert S. Pickens (admitted pro hac vice) cgerson@venable.com rspickens@venable.com Jason M. Dorsky (admitted pro hac vice) Sean M. McCarthy (admitted pro hac vice) jmdorsky@venable.com smccarthy@venable.com Stephen K. Yam (admitted pro hac vice) Caitlyn N. Bingaman (admitted pro hac vice) syam@venable.com cnbingaman@venable.com Stephen J. Krachie (admitted pro hac vice) skrachie@venable.com VENABLE LLP 1290 Avenue of the Americas New York, New York 10104-3800 Tel: (212) 218-2100 Fax: (212) 218-2200 Chris Holland (SBN 164053) cholland@hollandlawllp.com Lori L. Holland (SBN 202309) lholland@hollandlawllp.com Ethan Jacobs (SBN 291838) ejacobs@hollandlawllp.com 220 Montgomery Street, Suite 800 San Francisco, CA 94104 Tel: (415) 200-4980 Fax: (415) 200-4989 Attorneys for Plaintiffs IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT OAKLAND DIVISION IN RE KONINKLIJKE PHILIPS PATENT Case No. 4:18-cv-01885-HSG STIPULATED AND UNOPPOSED DISMISSAL AND ENTRY OF PERMANENT INJUNCTION; ORDER; NOTICE OF WITHDRAWAL OF PRIOR MOTION (DKT. NO. 960) 1 Pursuant to Civil L.R. 7-7(e), Plaintiffs Koninklijke Philips N.V. and U.S. Philips Corporation (collectively, “Philips”) hereby withdraws its previously-filed Motion for Dismissal and Entry of Permanent Injunction (Dkt. No. 960), presently set for hearing on March 5, 2020, and files the current Stipulated and Unopposed Motion for Voluntary Dismissal and Entry of Permanent Injunction in lieu of that motion. Philips and Defendant YiFang USA, Inc. d/b/a/ E-Fun Inc. (“YiFang”) have entered into a confidential settlement agreement resolving all claims between them in this action (“the Philips/YiFang Claims”). Therefore, Philips and YiFang jointly file this motion under Civil L.R. 7-12 asking the Court to enter the parties’ Stipulation of Dismissal and Permanent Injunction filed herewith, which asks this Court to dismiss the Philips/YiFang Claims pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 41(a)(2) (“Rule 41(a)(2)”) and enter the permanent injunction agreed upon by the parties under the terms set forth in that Stipulation of Dismissal and Permanent Injunction. Lead counsel for Philips has met and conferred with counsel for the remaining parties to this action, namely, HTC Corp. and HTC America, Inc. (collectively, “HTC”) and ASUS Computer International and ASUSTeK Computer, Inc. (collectively, “ASUS”), regarding this motion. HTC responded that it has no objection to this motion and Asus responded that it takes no position on this motion. Philips initially filed this patent infringement action in the District of Delaware (1:15-cv- 1131-GMS), asserting, among other things, that certain of YiFang’s touch-enabled tablet computers and touch-enabled laptop computers include hardware and/or software containing functionality covered by one more claims of the patents-in-suit. Related actions were contemporaneously filed by Philips against other parties, including HTC and ASUS (the “Related Actions”). 2 the District of Delaware, and all of these cases were consolidated under the above-captioned case. As indicated, with the present motion, Philips and YiFang jointly move the Court to dismiss all of the Philips/YiFang Claims and to enter the permanent injunction agreed upon by the parties under the terms of the parties’ Stipulation of Dismissal and Permanent Injunction in view of their confidential settlement agreement. However, this motion does not seek any relief with respect to the pending claims between Philips and any of HTC or ASUS. With respect to the requested dismissal of the Philips/YiFang Claims, under Rule 41(a)(2), after an opposing party has served an answer or motion for summary judgment, “an action may be dismissed at the plaintiff’s request only by court order, on terms that the court considers proper.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 41(a)(2). Moreover, a “plaintiff may invoke Rule 41(a) to dismiss fewer than all of the parties to an action.” Schaeffer v. Gregory Vill. Partners, L.P., 2016 WL 9185388, at *1 (N.D. Cal. Jan. 26, 2016) (citing Lake at Las Vegas Investors Group, Inc. v. Pac. Malibu Dev. Corp., 933 F.2d 724, 726 (9th Cir. 1991)). The decision to grant or deny a request to dismiss pursuant to Rule 41(a)(2) is within this Court’s sound discretion. Id. (citing Sams v. Beech Aircraft Corp., 625 F.2d 273, 277 (9th Cir. 1980)). However, “[a] district court should grant a motion for voluntary dismissal under Rule 41(a)(2) unless a defendant can show that it will suffer some plain legal prejudice as a result.” Id. (quoting Smith v. Lenches, 263 F.3d 972, 975 (9th Cir. 2001)). Legal prejudice means “prejudice to some legal interest, some legal claim, [or] some legal argument.” Id. (quoting Westlands Water Dist. v.United States, 100 F.3d 94, 97 (9th Cir. 1996)). With respect to the requested permanent injunction, legal authority allowing the Court to grant the Stipulated Motion and enter the permanent injunction can be found in the Patent Act, the decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court and the Federal Circuit, and in the prior decisions of this Court and other judges in this District under similar circumstances. 3 the principles of equity to prevent the violation of any right secured by patent, on such terms as the court deems reasonable.” 35 U.S.C. § 283 (“Section 283”). In applying Section 283, the U.S. Supreme Court has established certain factual findings required to support entry of a permanent injunction, commonly known as the “eBay factors.” See eBay Inc. v. MercExchange, L.L.C., 547 U.S. 388, 391 (2006). Under the eBay factors, a plaintiff must demonstrate: “(1) that it has suffered an irreparable injury; (2) that remedies available at law, such as monetary damages, are inadequate to compensate for that injury; (3) that, considering the balance of hardships between the plaintiff and defendant, a remedy in equity is warranted; and (4) that the public interest would not be disserved by a permanent injunction.” Id.; see also i4i Ltd. Partnership v. Microsoft Corp., 598 F.3d 831, 861 (Fed. Cir. 2010), aff’d, 564 U.S. 91 (2011). Here, those factors are all supported by the stipulated factual findings discussed below. In particular, the parties stipulate and agree to each of the factual findings required by eBay, including that Philips has suffered an irreparable injury by the alleged infringement, that remedies available at law (such as monetary damages) are inadequate to compensate for that injury, that the injunctive remedy in equity is warranted after considering the balance of hardships between Philips and YiFang, and that the public interest would not be disserved by a permanent injunction. Under similar circumstances, this Court and other courts in this district have entered permanent injunctions agreed upon by the parties. For instance, in Adobe Sys. Inc. v. Last Chance Buys, Inc., this Court entered a stipulated permanent injunction enjoining the defendant from future acts of trademark and copyright infringement based on certain stipulated facts, including that “Plaintiff has no adequate remedy at l

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In Re Koninklijke Philips Patent Litigation, (N.D. Cal. 2020).

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