Maxwell v. Angel-Etts of California, Inc.

53 F. App'x 561
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
DecidedDecember 13, 2002
DocketNos. 01-1601, 01-1647, 02-1198 and 02-1219
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 53 F. App'x 561 (Maxwell v. Angel-Etts of California, Inc.) 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
Maxwell v. Angel-Etts of California, Inc., 53 F. App'x 561 (Fed. Cir. 2002).

Opinion

LINN, Circuit Judge.

Two appeals are addressed in this opinion. Both appeals stem from a patent infringement suit involving U.S. Patent No. 4,624,060 (“the ’060 patent”) brought by Susan M. Maxwell (“Maxwell”) against Angel-etts of California, now known as ACI International, Inc. (“ACI”). In the first appeal, ACI seeks review of an order of the United States District Court for the Central District of California denying ACI’s motion for judgment as a matter of law or, in the alternative for a new trial (“JMOL motion”) and entering judgment against ACI. Maxwell v. Angel-Etts of Cal., No. 99-10516 (C.D.Cal. July 9, 2001) (“Order”). Specifically, ACI argues that there was no legally sufficient evidence to support the jury’s verdict with respect to the extent of infringement of the ’060 patent, the willfulness of infringement, and the award of additional damages, and that the district court’s award of enhanced damages under 35 U.S.C. § 284 was an abuse of discretion. Maxwell cross-appeals, seeking reversal of the district court’s order granting ACI’s motion for partial summary judgment of non-infringement with respect to a type of shoe known as the “A-line slipper.” Maxwell v. AngelEtts of Cal, No. 99-10516 (C.D.Cal. May 15, 2000) (“Summary Judgment Order”). For the reasons below, we affirm both the district court’s decision denying ACI’s JMOL motion and entering judgment against ACI, as well the grant of partial summary judgment of non-infringement as to the A-line slippers.

In the second appeal, ACI seeks review of a final order of the district court awarding Maxwell attorney fees in the amount of $594,461.08. Maxwell v. Angel-etts of Cal., No. 99-10516 (C.D.Cal. Dec. 13, 2001) (“Fee Order”). Specifically, ACI contends that this was not an exceptional case warranting attorney fees, and further, that the amount of attorney fees awarded was unreasonably high, and thus represented an abuse of discretion. In addition, ACI requests reversal of the denial of ACI’s motion to retax costs provided in the Fee Order because ACI argues that the deposition costs were not apportioned between [563]*563ACI and codefendants in a related action. On cross-appeal, Maxwell agrees with ACI that the attorney fees were unreasonable; however, Maxwell argues that the 50% reduction in fees was arbitrary and the attorney fee award was too low. Moreover, Maxwell seeks to reverse the district court’s rejection of her request for nontaxable costs because the district court’s reasoning was not in accordance with law. We vacate the attorney fee award and remand the issue for reconsideration of the evidence submitted in support of the fee application in light of questions raised on the record before us. We reverse and remand on the issue of non-taxable costs because our decision in Central Soya v. Geo. A. Hormel & Co., 723 F.2d 1573, 220 USPQ 490 (Fed.Cir.1983), makes clear that such costs are recoverable. Finally, we affirm the district court’s denial of ACI’s motion to retax costs.

BACKGROUND

Because of the protracted nature of this case, the underlying facts are naturally complex. The parties are no doubt familiar with these facts, which are presented at Summary Judgment Order, pp. 1-4, Order, pp. 1-7, and Fee Order, pp. 1-4. Thus, only a summary of the facts germane to the analysis is presented below.

Maxwell originally filed suit in 1995 against Woolworth Corporation; Pamida, Inc.; and ACI in the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota, alleging infringement of the ’060 patent. In 1999, that district court severed Maxwell’s claim against ACI for lack of personal jurisdiction, and the claim was transferred to the United States District Court for the Central District of California.

In April 2000, ACI filed a motion for partial summary judgment which was granted-in-part and denied-in-part by the Summary Judgment Order. In particular, the district court found that the attachment system sewn into the seam of the inner and outer soles of the A-line slippers does not fall within the scope of the ’060 patent and granted summary judgment of non-infringement to that effect. See Summary Judgment Order at 13.

In April 2001, a jury trial was commenced. Following the trial, the jury returned a verdict in favor of Maxwell and filed a Special Verdict in which it answered questions of fact presented for decision. In relevant part, the Special Verdict reported the jury’s findings that (1) ACI sold 431,375 pairs of infringing shoes in the relevant time period; (2) ACI induced infringement as to 253,348 pairs of infringing shoes in the relevant time period; (3) damages should be assessed in the amount of 6 cents per pair of shoes for a reasonable royalty and 15 cents per pair of shoes for additional damages; and (4) ACI’s infringement was willful. See Order at 4r-5. ACI then filed its JMOL motion and Maxwell filed a motion for attorney fees, among other things. The district court denied ACI’s JMOL motion and granted-in-part Maxwell’s motion for attorney fees. See Order at 66.

At the conclusion of the case, the clerk of the district court issued a bill of costs in the amount of $19,483.09. Maxwell then filed a motion in support of the amount of award of attorney fees, seeking $1,188,922.18 in attorney fees and non-taxable costs, and ACI filed a motion to retax the costs as determined by the clerk. The district court, in its Fee Order, denied Maxwell’s request for non-taxable costs to the extent those costs are not listed in 28 U.S.C. § 1920, reduced Maxwell’s requested attorney fees by 50%, and denied ACI’s motion to retax costs. See Fee Order at 20.

[564]*564The parties, as discussed above, appeal various aspects of the Summary Judgment Order, Order, and Fee Order to this court. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1295(a)(1).

DISCUSSION

I. Standard of Review

Many of the issues on appeal have their bases in the jury’s Special Verdict form. We review a jury’s resolution of factual issues for substantial evidence. See Markman v. Westview Instruments, Inc., 52 F.3d 967, 975, 34 USPQ2d 1321, 1326 (Fed. Cir.1995) (en banc). A factual finding is supported by “substantial evidence” if a reasonable jury could have found in favor of the prevailing party in light of the evidence presented at trial. See Tec Air, Inc. v. Denso Mfg., 192 F.3d 1353, 1358, 52 USPQ2d 1294, 1296 (Fed.Cir.1999). Given the large number of issues on appeal, the specific standards of review for the individual issues are not set out in this section, but are included individually in the separate sections discussing each issue.

II. ACI’s JMOL motion

We review a district court’s denial of a motion for judgment as a matter of law de novo, reapplying the standard applicable at the district court. See Sibia Neurosciences, Inc. v. Cadus Pharm. Corp.,

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