Notice Pleading Does Not Require Correct Claim Name
UTStarcom, Inc. v. Starent Networks, Corp., No. 07 C 2582, Min. Order (N.D. Ill. Aug. 16, 2007) (Lindberg, J.).
Judge Lindberg denied defendants' motion to dismiss plaintiff's state law claims and its claim seeking assignment of defendants' patents to plaintiffs. The Court held that the claim seeking assignment of defendants patents to plaintiff was an invalidity contention. Plaintiff claimed that it had invented defendants' patented inventions before defendants. While plaintiff did not use the correct terms, it met the notice pleading standards. Additionally, plaintiff's state law trade secret and tortious interference claims were sufficiently related to the patent claims to come within the Court's supplemental jurisdiction.
The Court refused to consider plaintiff's requests for additional discovery because it was made orally in court and in plaintiff's responsive pleading, but never as a written motion as required by Fed. R. Civ. P. 7(b)(1).
