Robert Bosch LLC v. Trico Prods Corp., No. 12 C 437, Slip Op. (N.D. Ill. May 21, 2014) (Grady, Sen. J.).

Judge Grady denied defendants’ (collectively “Trico”) motion for summary judgment of noninfringement with respect to Trico’s Duralast Flex Blade windshield wiper blade in this patent infringement dispute.  

As an initial matter, the Court

Flava Works, Inc. v. Gunter d/b/a myVidster.com, No. 10 C 6517, Slip Op. (N.D. Ill. Oct. 24, 2013) (Grady, Sen. J.).

Judge Shadur granted in part plaintiff Flava Works’ motion to compel responses to discovery requests.  Of particular note, the Court held as follows:

  • Neither Flava Work’s complaint nor the Seventh Circuit’s decision limited

Flava Works, Inc. v. Gunter d/b/a myVidster.com, No. 10 C 6571, Slip Op. (N.D. Ill. Sep. 3, 2013) (Grady, Sen. J.).

Judge Grady granted in part plaintiff Flava Works’ Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss defendants’ (collectively “myVidster”) tortious interference and Digital Millenium Copyright Act (“DMCA”) claims in this copyright infringement suit

Universal Beauty Prods., Inc. v. Morning Glory Prods., Inc., No. 10 C 3212, Slip Op. (N.D. Ill. Oct. 18, 2012) (Grady, J.).

Judge Grady denied defendant Morning Glory’s motion to transfer venue to the E.D. North Carolina in this competitionbased false patent marking case.  The parties agreed that venue was proper in

Flava Works, Inc. v. Gunter d/b/a myVidster.com, No. 10 C 6517 Slip. Op. (N.D. Ill. Sep. 1, 2011) (Grady, J.).
Judge Grady denied defendant’s motion to reconsider its preliminary injunction, for the following reasons:
· The Court addressed defendant’s arguments even though they “could and should have been” brought in the original briefing.
· Defendants’ argument was too narrow. Someone who linked the copyrighted material can be a direct infringer. The alleged direct infringement of defendant’s customers, therefore, can be true whether the myVidster owner saved the copyrighted file or embedded a link to it.

Continue Reading Reconsideration Motion Denied After Careful Consideration

Flava Works, Inc. v. Gunter d/b/a myVidster.com, No. 10 C 6517, Slip Op. (N.D. Ill. May 10, 2011) (Grady, J.).
Judge Grady granted in part defendants’ Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss plaintiff Flava Works’ complaint in this copyright case involving adult entertainment on the internet.
Direct Infringement
Defendant Gunter operates myVidster.com where users could post content, including the allegedly infringing videos. But, as an internet service provider (“ISP”) Gunter was not liable for his user’s copying. And Flava Works did not allege that Gunter copied. The claim was, therefore, dismissed.
Contributory Infringement
Flava Works could not rely solely upon its DMCA take down notices to defendants – even multiple notices – to prove either actual or constructive knowledge of the infringement. Flava Works, however, showed knowledge based upon seven notices it sent to defendants over seven months, in addition to the DMCA takedown notices. The contributory infringement count was, therefore sufficiently pled.
Vicarious Liability
Flava Works did not sufficiently plead defendants’ direct financial interest in the alleged infringement. Flava Works did allege that defendants’ inexpensive storage space and video sharing attracts customers. But Flava Works did not allege that the presence of the allegedly infringing material drew customers.
Inducement
The Court dismissed Flava Works’ inducement claim. It was a “formulaic recitation” of the standard void of facts showing an infringing purpose of active steps fostering infringement.
False Designation & Trademark Infringement
Defendants’ alleged posting on their website of Flava Works’ videos containing Flava Works marks did not constitute a use in commerce.

Continue Reading Bald Recitation of Standard Dismissed

Flava Works, Inc. v. Gunter d/b/a myVidster.com, No. 10 C 6517, Slip Op. (N.D. Ill. Jul. 27, 2011) (Grady, J.).
Judge Grady granted plaintiff Flava Works’ motion for a preliminary injunction in this copyright case involving adult movies, and ordered the parties to confer on language for the preliminary injunction. Defendants’ myVidster website is a “social video bookmarking” site which allows users to post or link to video content. When a user posts or links to the content, myVidster crawls the website hosting the video to gather data about the video, creates a thumbnail image of the video and embeds the video on the myVidster site.
Likelihood of Success
The Court held that there was a likelihood of success on at least Flava Works’ contributory copyright infringement claim. It could not be “seriously disputed” that third parties have directly infringed Flava Work’s works by posting video content on myVidster. And defendants knew or should have known about the infringement based upon Flava Works’ seven DMCA take down notices outlining instances of the infringement to defendants. In fact, the email exchanges surrounding the notices show that defendants were not cooperative in addressing the notices. And myVidster’s repeat infringer policy was the “epitome” of willful blindness. Furthermore, there was significant evidence that defendants encouraged the infringement. For example, myVidster encouraged sharing of video content without warning of potential copyright infringement issues.
Defendants were not protected by the DMCA’s safe harbor provision. A threshold requirement for safe harbor is that a party adopt and reasonably implement a policy providing for termination of users that are repeat infringers. Defendants policy did not require or directly provide for termination of repeat infringers. And defendants did not consider copyright infringement to be part of the defintion of “infringer.”
Irreparable Harm
Defendants failed to rebut the presumption of irreparable harm in copyright cases. Flava Works’ did not delay in bringing the suit and then the injunction motion. Prior to filing suit, Flava Works attempted to resolve the issue with several DMCA take down notices and the Court would not penalize Flava Works for attempting to avoid litigation.

Continue Reading Attempts to Resolve Dispute Do Not Prevent a Preliminary Injunction

TechnoLines, LP v. GST Autoleather, Inc., No. 11 C 965, Slip Op. (N.D. Ill. Jun. 30, 2011) (Grady, J.).
Judge Grady granted defendant GST’s motion to dismiss plaintiffs’ patent claims for improper revenue and lack of production and dismissed the remaining state law claims without prejudice to be refiled pursuant to diversity jurisdiction, if possible.
The Court’s key rulings were:
GST’s failed license negotiations with plaintiff Echelon in Illinois alone could not create personal jurisdiction.
Echelon residing in Illinois and, therefore, having been allegedly harmed in Illinois does not create personal jurisdiction. GST’s conduct must have been specifically directed at Illinois. And there was no evidence that GST sold product into Illinois.
GST’s phone calls and emails to Echelon in Illinois did not create personal jurisdiction.
The Court refused supplemental jurisdiction over the remaining state law claims, and gave plaintiff a deadline for repleading based upon diversity jurisdiction, if it could.

Continue Reading Letters and Emails to State Cannot Alone Create Jurisdiction

Zojo Sol’ns., Inc. v. Leviton Mfg. Co., No. 10 C 881, Slip Op. (N.D. Ill. Oct. 20, 2010) (Grady, Sen. J.).
Judge Grady granted defendant Leviton’s 28 U.S.C. § 1404(a) motion to transfer this false patent marking case to the Eastern District of New York. Plaintiff Zojo’s choice of forum was given little deference because Zojo was a qui tam plaintiff. The location of Leviton’s witnesses and documents in New York combined with the fact that Leviton’s New York headquarters was the situs for the alleged false marking, favored transfer. That was true even though the Eastern District of New York was a slightly faster court. The most interesting aspect of the decision, however, was a statement that the Local Patent Rules did not apply to false patent marking cases because patent infringement was not alleged. Presumably, the analysis is different if the alleged false marking involves a marked product that allegedly does not fall within the claims of the marked patent.

Continue Reading Local Patent Rules Do Not Apply to False Marking with Expired Patents

Simonian v. Edgecraft Corp., No. 10 C 1263, Slip Op. (N.D. Ill. Sep. 20, 2010) (Grady, Sen. J.).
Judge Grady granted defendant Edgecraft’s Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss plaintiff Simonian’s false patent marking claims. The Federal Circuit’s recent decisions rejected two of Edgecraft’s three arguments. In Stauffer, the Federal Circuit held that any individual had standing to sue for false marking without regard to injury in fact. And in Solo Cup, the Federal Circuit held that marking with an expired patent could constitute false patent marking.
The Court, however, held that Fed. R. Civ. P. 9(b) heightened pleading standards applied to the intent to deceive requirement. Simonian’s “bare allegations” – and otherwise only “mere labels and conclusions” – at best suggested a “possibility of misconduct,” not intent. While Rule 9(b) does allow intent to be pled generally, the allegations must create a reasonable inference that defendant acted with the necessary intent.

Continue Reading False Patent Marking Plaintiff Must Meet Rule 9(b) Pleading for Intent