Shopify Inc. v. Express Mobile, Inc.

CourtDistrict Court, D. Delaware
DecidedMay 17, 2024
Docket1:19-cv-00439
StatusUnknown

This text of Shopify Inc. v. Express Mobile, Inc. (Shopify Inc. v. Express Mobile, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Delaware primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Shopify Inc. v. Express Mobile, Inc., (D. Del. 2024).

Opinion

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF DELAWARE

SHOPIFY INC. AND SHOPIFY (USA) INC., Plaintiffs and Counterclaim Defendants,

Civil Action No. 19-439-RGA Vv. EXPRESS MOBILE, INC., Defendant and Counterclaim Plaintiff.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

Daniel M. Silver, Alexandra M. Joyce, MCCARTER & ENGLISH, LLP, Wilmington, DE; Adam R. Brausa, Annie A. Lee, Daralyn J. Durie, Eric C. Wiener, Timothy C. Saulsbury, Vera Ranieri, Whitney R. O'Byrne, MORRISON & FOERSTER LLP, San Francisco, CA; Attorneys for Plaintiffs.

Timothy Devlin, DEVLIN LAW FIRM PLLC, Wilmington, DE, Christopher A. Suarez, James R. Nuttall, John L. Abramic, Katherine H. Tellez, Michael Dockterman, Robert F. Kappers, Tron Fu, STEPTOE & JOHNSON LLP, Chicago, IL; Attorneys for Defendants.

May 17, 2024

ANDREWS, G DISTRICT JUDGE: Before me is Shopify’s Motion for Judgment as a Matter of Law and/or for a New Trial.! (D.I. 436). I have reviewed the parties’ briefing. (D.I. 437, 443, 446). I heard oral argument on October 11, 2023.” For the following reasons, Shopify’s motion is GRANTED. I. BACKGROUND After a five-day trial, the jury found that Shopify infringed all eight asserted claims: claims 1, 12, and 22 of U.S. Patent No. 9,063,755 (“’755 patent”), claims 1 and 13 of U.S. Patent No. 9,471,287 (“’287 patent”), and claims 1, 17, and 19 of U.S. Patent No. 9,928,044 (“°044 patent”). (D.I. 418). The patents include both method and system claims. Claim 1 of each patent and claim 13 of the ’287 patent are system claims, and claims 12 and 22 of the ’755 patent and claims 17 and 19 of the ’044 patent are method claims. JTX-0001, JTX-0003, JTX-0004. The jury awarded Express Mobile $40 million in damages. (D.I. 420). Shopify seeks JMOL of non- infringement and no damages, or in the alternative, a new trial. (D.I. 437). II. LEGAL STANDARD A. Judgment as a Matter of Law Judgment as a matter of law is appropriate if “the court finds that a reasonable jury would not have a legally sufficient evidentiary basis to find for [a] party” on an issue. Fed. R. Civ. P. 50(a)(1). “Entry of judgment as a matter of law is a ‘sparingly’ invoked remedy, ‘granted only if,

' Two Shopify entities filed this declaratory judgment action. At trial they were trectecl as one entity, and I do so here as well. * Citations to the transcript of the argument (D.I. 461) are in the format “Hearing Tr. [].” 3 On March 1, 2023, the PTAB found claims 1, 2, 5-7, and 11 of the ’755 patent and 1, 2, 5-7, 11, and 12 of the ’287 patent unpatentable based on obviousness. IPR2021-01455; IPR2021- 01456. On March 14, 2023, the PTAB found claims 1, 2, 5-7, 11, and 12 of the ’044 patent unpatentable based on obviousness. IPR2021-01457. The PTAB litigation is pending. I do not address the PTAB litigation as the issue of invalidity is not before me.

viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the nonmovant and giving it the advantage of every fair and reasonable inference, there is insufficient evidence from which a jury reasonably could find liability.”” Marra v. Phila. Hous. Auth., 497 F.3d 286, 300 (3d Cir. 2007) (citation omitted). “To prevail on a renewed motion for JMOL following a jury trial, a party must show that the jury’s findings, presumed or express, are not supported by substantial evidence or, if they were, that the legal conclusion(s) implied by the jury’s verdict cannot in law be supported by those findings.” Pannu v. Iolab Corp., 155 F.3d 1344, 1348 (Fed. Cir. 1998) (cleaned up). “*Substantial’ evidence is such relevant evidence from the record taken as a whole as might be accepted by a reasonable mind as adequate to support the finding under review.” Perkin-Elmer Corp. v. Computervision Corp., 732 F.2d 888, 893 (Fed. Cir. 1984). In assessing the sufficiency of the evidence, the Court must give the non-moving party, “as [the] verdict winner, the benefit of all logical inferences that could be drawn from the evidence presented, resolve all conflicts in the evidence in his favor and, in general, view the record in the light most favorable to him.” Williamson v. Consol. Rail Corp., 926 F.2d 1344, 1348 (3d Cir. 1991). The Court may “not determine the credibility of the witnesses [nor] substitute its choice for that of the jury between conflicting elements in the evidence.” Perkin- Elmer, 732 F.2d at 893. Rather, the Court must determine whether the evidence supports the jury’s verdict. See Dawn Equip. Co. v. Ky. Farms Inc., 140 F.3d 1009, 1014 (Fed. Cir. 1998); 9B Charles Alan Wright & Arthur R. Miller, Federal Practice and Procedure § 2524 (3d ed. 2008) (“The question is not whether there is literally no evidence supporting the party against whom the motion is directed but whether there is evidence upon which the jury might reasonably find a verdict for that party.”).

B. New Trial Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 59(a)(1)(A) provides, “The court may, on motion, grant a new trial on all or some of the issues—and to any party— .. . after a jury trial, for any reason for which a new trial has heretofore been granted in an action at law in federal court... .” The decision to grant or deny a new trial is committed to the sound discretion of the district court. See Allied Chem. Corp. v. Daiflon, Inc., 449 U.S. 33, 36 (1980); Olefins Trading, Inc. v. Han Yang Chem. Corp., 9 F.3d 282, 289 (3d Cir. 1993) (reviewing district court’s grant or denial of new trial motion under the “abuse of discretion” standard). Although the standard for granting a new trial is less rigorous than the standard for granting judgment as a matter of law—in that the Court need not view the evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict winner—a new trial should only be granted where “a miscarriage of justice would result if the verdict were to stand,” the verdict “cries out to be overturned,” or where the verdict “shocks [the] conscience.” Williamson, 926 F.2d at 1352-53. “Where a trial is long and complicated and deals with a subject matter not lying within the ordinary knowledge of jurors a verdict should be scrutinized more closely by the trial judge than is necessary where the litigation deals with material which is familiar and simple, the evidence relating to ordinary commercial practices.” Lind v. Schenley Indus., Inc., 278 F.2d 79, 90-91 (3d Cir. 1960).4 If the motion for judgment as a matter of law is granted, then the court must rule in the alternative on the motion for a new trial. Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 50(c)(1) provides: If the court grants a renewed motion for judgment as a matter of law, it must also conditionally rule on any motion for a new trial by determining whether a new trial should be granted if the judgment is later vacated or reversed. The court must state the grounds for conditionally granting or denying the motion for a new trial.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Allied Chemical Corp. v. Daiflon, Inc.
449 U.S. 33 (Supreme Court, 1980)
Lucent Technologies, Inc. v. Gateway, Inc.
580 F.3d 1301 (Federal Circuit, 2009)
Dan Lind v. Schenley Industries Inc
278 F.2d 79 (Third Circuit, 1960)
Aspex Eyewear, Inc. v. Marchon Eyewear, Inc.
672 F.3d 1335 (Federal Circuit, 2012)
Ntp, Inc. v. Research in Motion, Ltd.
418 F.3d 1282 (Federal Circuit, 2005)
Laserdynamics, Inc. v. Quanta Computer, Inc.
694 F.3d 51 (Federal Circuit, 2012)
Mirror Worlds, LLC v. Apple Inc.
692 F.3d 1351 (Federal Circuit, 2012)
Marra v. Philadelphia Housing Authority
497 F.3d 286 (Third Circuit, 2007)
Ericsson, Inc. v. D-Link Systems, Inc.
773 F.3d 1201 (Federal Circuit, 2014)
Microsoft Corporation v. Geotag, Inc.
817 F.3d 1305 (Federal Circuit, 2016)
Dawn Equipment Co. v. Kentucky Farms Inc.
140 F.3d 1009 (Federal Circuit, 1998)
Pannu v. Iolab Corp.
155 F.3d 1344 (Federal Circuit, 1998)
Fantasy Sports Properties, Inc. v. Sportsline.Com, Inc.
287 F.3d 1108 (Federal Circuit, 2002)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
Shopify Inc. v. Express Mobile, Inc., Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/shopify-inc-v-express-mobile-inc-ded-2024.