Motorola Solutions, Inc. v. Hytera Communications Corporation Ltd.

CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Illinois
DecidedMarch 25, 2024
Docket1:17-cv-01973
StatusUnknown

This text of Motorola Solutions, Inc. v. Hytera Communications Corporation Ltd. (Motorola Solutions, Inc. v. Hytera Communications Corporation Ltd.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Motorola Solutions, Inc. v. Hytera Communications Corporation Ltd., (N.D. Ill. 2024).

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ILLINOIS EASTERN DIVISION MOTOROLA SOLUTIONS, INC, et al, Plaintiffs, Case No. 17-cv-01973 v. Judge Martha M. Pacold HYTERA COMMUNICATIONS CORPORATION LTD., Defendant.

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER Plaintiffs Motorola Solutions, Inc., and Motorola Solutions Malaysia Sdn. Bhd. (collectively “Motorola”) move to open contempt proceedings and enter an antisuit injunction to protect this court’s jurisdiction. [1482]. The motion is granted. Contempt proceedings are opened regarding whether Hytera is in contempt for not paying royalties on the H-Series products under the royalty order. Until those contempt proceedings in this case have concluded, Hytera is enjoined from continuing to pursue the litigation Hytera filed in China seeking a declaratory judgment that Hytera’s H-Series products do not infringe Motorola’s trade secrets or copyrights. A separate antisuit injunction order will be entered simultaneously. The temporary restraining order entered on March 12, 2024, [1494], is lifted, as it was issued to maintain the status quo pending this ruling on Motorola’s motion for an antisuit injunction, and it has been superseded by the antisuit injunction being entered concurrently. I A The parties extensively litigated—in a three-and-a-half month trial and lengthy post-trial proceedings before Judge Norgle—whether Hytera1 misappropriated Motorola’s trade secrets and infringed Motorola’s copyrights in developing and selling various Hytera digital mobile radio (DMR) products. The trial, which ran from November 6, 2019 to February 14, 2020, resulted in a verdict of trade secret misappropriation and copyright infringement and an award of nearly

1 The only defendant currently before the court is Hytera Communications Corporation Ltd., and not any other member of the Hytera corporate family. The court refers to the defendant as “Hytera” for ease. $765 million against Hytera, later reduced to $543.7 million. The post-trial proceedings resulted in a July 5, 2022 royalty order requiring Hytera to pay royalties on ongoing sales of infringing products—products adjudicated at trial to use Motorola’s trade secrets and infringe its copyrights. Motorola’s current motion involves Hytera’s H-Series products. The H-Series is a line of products that Hytera released in late 2021, after the trial, during post- trial proceedings. Hytera claims it redesigned the H-Series to avoid the use of Motorola’s trade secrets and copyrights. Because Hytera had not yet released the H-Series at the time of trial, the H-Series was not among the products adjudicated at trial. In the current motion, Motorola claims that there is compelling evidence that in fact the H-Series products are not more than colorably different from the products adjudicated at trial—and that therefore Hytera should be paying royalties on the H-Series under the royalty order. Hytera has not paid royalties on sales of the H-Series. Motorola requests that the court open contempt proceedings to adjudicate whether Hytera is in contempt by not paying royalties on sales of H-Series products under the royalty order. Hytera responds that contempt proceedings should not be opened. Hytera contends that the royalty order does not cover the H-Series and that Judge Norgle rejected Motorola’s attempts to include the H-Series in the royalty order. Further, Hytera argues, the H-Series is a complete redesign that does not use Motorola’s trade secrets or copyrights, and Motorola has not made a showing of trade secret or copyright infringement sufficient to warrant opening contempt proceedings. In Hytera’s view, if Motorola seeks to assert trade secret and copyright claims regarding the H-Series, Motorola should be required to file a new case and try it to a new jury, not pursue contempt proceedings in this case. Motorola contends that, in addition to opening contempt proceedings, the court should issue an anti-suit injunction enjoining Hytera from pursuing an action that Hytera filed in Shenzhen, China. Hytera filed that case in the Shenzhen Intermediate People’s Court in June 2022, during post-trial proceedings in this case, before the royalty order was entered. In the Shenzhen case, Hytera seeks a declaratory judgment that the H-Series products do not infringe Motorola’s trade secrets or copyrights. The Shenzhen court accepted Hytera’s claim on February 28, 2023. The court served Motorola, i.e. gave Motorola notice of the case, in November 2023. The court held a hearing on January 25-26, 2024, and requested that Motorola provide its rebuttal evidence by April 1, 2024, including by producing Motorola’s source code and trade secrets. Motorola then (on February 20, 2024) filed the current motion in this court, requesting that this court open contempt proceedings and issue an antisuit injunction. As discussed above, Motorola contends that opening contempt proceedings in this court is the appropriate process to resolve whether the H-Series relies on trade secret misappropriation or copyright infringement. Motorola argues that Hytera’s H-Series action in China is an attempt to avoid this court’s jurisdiction. Motorola thus requests that, if this court opens contempt proceedings regarding the H-Series, the court also issue an antisuit injunction enjoining Hytera from pursing its action in China. Motorola requests that the court issue the antisuit injunction by April 1, 2024, the deadline for Motorola to produce in China Motorola’s source code and trade secrets. Hytera, on the other hand, contends that opening contempt proceedings in this case is not warranted for the reasons discussed above. Hytera further contends that even if the court opens contempt proceedings here (which Hytera contests), the court should refrain from issuing an antisuit injunction. In that scenario, contempt proceedings here and Hytera’s action in China would proceed in parallel. Thus, the current motion involves two issues: first, whether the court should open contempt proceedings regarding whether Hytera is in contempt for not paying royalties on the H-Series products under the royalty order; and second, whether the court should issue an antisuit injunction to enjoin Hytera from litigating the case Hytera filed in China seeking a declaratory judgment that Hytera’s H-Series products do not infringe Motorola’s trade secrets or copyrights. Several orders in this case, including the royalty order, are on appeal. Motorola Sols., Inc. v. Hytera Comms. Corp., Nos. 21-02635; 21-02721; 21-03054; 22- 01114; 22-01839; 22-01919; 22-02370; 22-02413 (7th Cir.); Notice of Appeal, [1356] at 2 (Hytera appealing the royalty order); Notice of Cross-Appeal, [1364] at 2 (Motorola appealing the same).2 “A notice of appeal deprives the district court of jurisdiction over the issues presented on the appeal.” Blue Cross & Blue Shield Ass’n v. Am. Express Co., 467 F.3d 634, 637 (7th Cir. 2006). However, Motorola’s current motion seeks enforcement rather than modification of the royalty order, and the court always retains jurisdiction to enforce its own orders, including through civil contempt proceedings, even when those orders are on appeal. See id. at 638; Eagle View Techs., Inc. v. Xactware Sols., Inc., No. CV 15-7025 (RMB/SAK), 2021 WL 4206291, at *2 (D.N.J. Sept. 16, 2021). B Some additional relevant aspects of the procedural history: Motorola filed this case on March 14, 2017, just over seven years ago, alleging trade secret misappropriation and copyright infringement by Hytera America, Inc., Hytera Communications Corporation Ltd., and Hytera Communications America

2 Bracketed numbers refer to docket entries and are followed by page and / or paragraph number citations. Page numbers refer to the ECF page number. (West), Inc.3 The case was tried to a jury between November 6, 2019 and February 14, 2020.

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Motorola Solutions, Inc. v. Hytera Communications Corporation Ltd., Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/motorola-solutions-inc-v-hytera-communications-corporation-ltd-ilnd-2024.