Motorola, Inc. v. Hitachi, Ltd.

750 F. Supp. 1319, 1990 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 21103, 1990 WL 179013
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Texas
DecidedApril 13, 1990
DocketA-89-CA-268, A-89-CA-481
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 750 F. Supp. 1319 (Motorola, Inc. v. Hitachi, Ltd.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Motorola, Inc. v. Hitachi, Ltd., 750 F. Supp. 1319, 1990 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 21103, 1990 WL 179013 (W.D. Tex. 1990).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

BUNTON, Chief Judge.

BEFORE THIS COURT came the parties for trial to the Bench on Plaintiff’s claims of patent infringement, breach of contract, fraud and tortious interference and Defendant’s counterclaims of tortious interference and patent infringement. The parties tried their suit in three days before the Court and the Court commends counsel for its diligence in narrowing the issues and getting to the heart of the evidence to be presented. While the Court compliments counsel on both sides for their diligence, the Court also notes such conduct is expected of all parties appearing before this Court. With that, the Court now enters its Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law.

*1323 FINDINGS OF FACT AND CONCLUSIONS OF LAW

The Plaintiff, Motorola, Inc. (“Motorola”), is a Delaware corporation headquartered in Schaumburg, Illinois. Defendant Hitachi, Ltd. (“Hitachi”) is a Japanese corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. Both Motorola and Hitachi manufacture and sell microprocessors and microcontrol-lers, among other products. Since 1975, Motorola and Hitachi have entered into a series of agreements concerning their microprocessors and microcontrollers, including agreements to cross-license their respective patents, to share technological advances with each other, and to manufacture each other’s devices. (Defendant’s Exhibits 21-32.) Such a union is also known as a second-source relationship and is typically initiated at the request of large customers of either corporation.

The dispute before the Court focuses on one of those agreements, the 1986 Patent License Agreement (the “PLA”). Plaintiff’s Exhibit 30 and Defendant’s Exhibit 177. Under the PLA, Motorola and Hitachi each agreed to license certain of their patents to each other for use in the manufacture and sale of new or improved electronic devices, subject to restrictions specified in the PLA. In this suit, each party alleges the other used its patents to manufacture and sell a device not licensed under the PLA.

MOTOROLA’S CLAIMS

Motorola’s First Amended Verified Complaint, filed on March 28, 1989 (the “Complaint”), requests the following relief:

Count 1: a declaratory judgment that Hitachi’s H8/532 microcontroller infringes four Motorola patents: U.S. Patent No. 4,263,650 (the “ ’650 patent”); U.S. Patent No. 4,255,785 (the “’785 patent”); U.S. Patent No. 4,748,559 (the “’559 patent”); and U.S. Patent No. 4,758,945 (the “ ’945 patent”), reasonable royalty damages for such infringement, punitive damages and an Order enjoining Hitachi from further infringing those patents;

Count 4: actual damages for Hitachi’s breach of the ZTAT Agreement;

Count 6: actual and punitive damages for Hitachi's acts of common law fraud as well as the imposition of a constructive trust on all profits and proceeds received by Hitachi on those sales of microprocessor products that resulted from Hitachi's fraudulent and unlawful scheme to misappropriate Motorola technology and injure Motorola;

Count 7: actual and punitive damages for Hitachi’s tortious interference with Motorola’s contractual relationships;

Count 8: actual and punitive damages for Hitachi’s tortious interference with Motorola’s prospective economic advantage;

Count 9: a declaratory judgment that Hitachi’s H8 and H16 microcontrollers are not licensed under the PLA.

Counts 2, 3 and 5 no longer fall within this Courts jurisdiction because the parties settled their differences regarding Count 3 and Count 5 was struck from the suit. Further, at trial Motorola did not pursue its Count 2 claims that Hitachi’s H16 microprocessor infringed Motorola’s ’559, ’945 and '785 patents, therefore the Court shall not pass judgment on those issues.

HITACHI’S COUNTERCLAIMS

Hitachi’s Second Amended Counterclaim (the “Counterclaim”), filed on October 25, 1989 requests the following relief:

Count 1: actual and punitive damages for unfair competition;

Count 3: actual and punitive damages for tortious interference with prospective business and economic relationships as well as an injunction forbidding further interference with those prospective and economic relationships;

Count 4: a declaratory judgment Hitachi’s H8/532 microcontroller is licensed under the 1986 PLA and Motorola breached the PLA;

Count 5: declaratory judgment of Motorola’s patent misuse and unfair competition;

Count 6: declaratory judgment of ZTAT contract rights;

*1324 Count 7: actual and punitive damages for fraudulent inducement;

.Count 8: declaratory judgment of inequitable conduct in the procurement of certain patents;

Count 9: declaratory judgment with regard to the invalidity and non-infringement of certain Motorola patents; and

Count 10: reasonable royalty damages for Motorola’s infringement of Hitachi’s U.S. Patent No. 4,646,271 (the “ ’271 patent”) by Motorola’s MC68030 microprocessor as well as an injunction against Motorola’s continued infringement of the ’271 patent.

Count 2 of Hitachi’s Second Amended Counterclaim was dropped at Hitachi’s behest.

The complexity of the case and the multiplicity of issues intimate a separation of the Court’s Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law by subject area. Each claim and counterclaim shall be discussed seri-atim unless otherwise consolidated.

LAW TO BE APPLIED

Initially, the Court must decide whether Illinois or Texas law should be applied to the contract and tort claims championed by each side. Hitachi argues and Motorola agrees Illinois law is pertinent to the disputed ZTAT Agreement and the 1986 Patent License Agreement (the “PLA”) because both agreements have identical forum selection provisions choosing Illinois law. As for the tort and fraud claims advanced both by Motorola and by Hitachi, those claims revolve around the negotiations preceding the two contracts. Hitachi argues Illinois law is again applicable, while Motorola claims the laws of the State of Texas should be applied.

As this suit was filed in Federal Court in Texas, this Court is bound to apply the Texas conflict of laws doctrine. Erie Railroad v. Tompkins, 304 U.S. 64, 78, 58 S.Ct. 817, 822, 82 L.Ed. 1188 (1938); Kucel v. Walter E. Heller & Co., 813 F.2d 67, 73 (5th Cir.1987). Claims on contracts which include a choice of forum clause are treated somewhat differently than tort claims under the Texas conflict of laws scheme. In the area of contracts, specifically those containing a choice of forum clause, Texas conflicts law holds, “where the parties to a contract specify in the instrument that it is to be governed by the law of a particular state, that law will apply if it has a reasonable relationship to the contract.” Securities Investment Co. v. Finance Acceptance Corp.,

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
750 F. Supp. 1319, 1990 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 21103, 1990 WL 179013, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/motorola-inc-v-hitachi-ltd-txwd-1990.