South Bend, Ind. – Patent lawyers for Automated Products International, LLC (“API”) of LaGrange, Ind. sued alleging that Norco Industries, Inc. (“Norco”) of Elkhart, Ind. infringed Patent No. 7,134,711 (the “‘711 Patent”) which has been issued by the U.S. Patent Office. 

The ‘711 Patent is directed to recreational-vehicle roof-support rafters.  API alleges that Norco has been and is currently infringing the patent.  API also asserts that through continuous marking of its products, it has provided “constructive notice of [Norco’s] infringement.”

API seeks a judgment declaring that Norco has infringed the ‘711 Patent; damages equal to at least a reasonable royalty; treble damages upon a finding of willful and deliberate infringement; attorneys’ fees upon a finding that the case is exceptional; and an injunction.

Practice Tip:  The law of the “reasonable royalty” has been in transition recently.  The “25% rule,” an approach that allocated 25% of the profits from an infringement to the patentee and the remaining 75% to the infringer, has been abandoned.  Long used in federal courts to establish a reasonable royalty as compensation for patent infringement under § 284 of the Patent Act, it was rejected by the Federal Circuit in 2011.  In its ruling in Uniloc v. Microsoft, the court held: “the 25 percent rule of thumb is a fundamentally flawed tool for determining a baseline royalty rate in a hypothetical negotiation.  Evidence relying on the 25 percent rule of thumb is thus inadmissible under Daubert and the Federal Rules of Evidence, because it fails to tie a reasonable royalty base to the facts of the case at issue.”

This case has been assigned to The Honorable Judge Joseph Van Bokkelen and Magistrate Judge Christopher A. Nuechterlein in the Northern District of Indiana, and assigned Case No. 3:13-cv-00396-JVB-CAN.

Automated Products v. Norco – Complaint

Further Information about the case is as follows:

Automated Products International LLC v. Norco Industries Inc

Filed: May 10, 2013 as 3:2013cv00396 Updated: May 13, 2013 21:42:51

Plaintiff: Automated Products International LLC 

Defendant: Norco Industries Inc

Cause Of Action: Patent Infringement

Court: Seventh Circuit > Indiana > Northern District Court

Type: Intellectual Property > Patent