Indianapolis, Indiana – Pennsylvania trade secret attorneys, in conjunction with Indiana co-counsel, for Distributor Service, Incorporated (“DSI”) of Pennsylvania sued in the Southern District of Indiana alleging that Rusty J. Stevenson (“Stevenson”) of Indiana and Rugby IPD Corp. d/b/a Rugby Architectural Building Products (“Rugby”) of New Hampshire violated an agreement containing non-competition, non-solicitation, and non-disclosure provisions. In the instant order, the court ruled on motions for summary judgment filed by DSI and Stevenson.

Plaintiff DSI is a seller and distributor of wholesale specialty building products to businesses in the Middle Atlantic and Midwest regions of the country. It has eight locations in Indiana, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Kentucky, and Michigan. Defendant Rugby is also in the business of selling and distributing wholesale specialty building products. It does so throughout the United States, including in Indiana, and is a direct competitor of DSI. Stevenson, formerly an employee of DSI, is currently employed by Rugby.

DSI hired Stevenson in October 1999 to be a salesman. When he started, Stevenson had no sales experience in the specialty-building-products industry or any related industry. DSI indicated that it had invested significant time and resources to provide specialized training to Stevenson. In April 2005, DSI promoted Stevenson to the position of sales manager. Later, as part of his employment, Stevenson signed a Confidentiality and Non-Competition Agreement with DSI. This agreement contained provisions for Non-Competition/Non-Solicitation and Non-Disclosure of Confidential Information.

During his employment with DSI, Stevenson had access to information that DSI considered to be protectable as intellectual property assets. This information included all of DSI’s “Customer Lists,” “Customer Product Preferences,” “Competitive Pricing,” and “Competitive Cost Structure” for DSI’s Indianapolis branch. DSI asserted that this information was “the cornerstone of DSI’s ability to compete effectively in the specialty building products industry in Indiana,” and that the information “derives economic value from not being generally known to other persons who can obtain economic value from its disclosure or use.”

In August 2013, Mr. Stevenson resigned from DSI to take a position as the general manager of Rugby’s Indianapolis branch. Shortly thereafter, DSI sued Rugby and Stevenson seeking, inter alia, damages and injunctive relief. DSI asserted claims for: (1) breach of the Non-Compete Provision; (2) breach of the Non-Solicitation Provision; (3) breach of the Non-Disclosure Provision; (4) recovery of attorneys’ fees and expenses under the Agreement; (5) misappropriation of trade secrets; (6) breach of duty of loyalty, and (7) tortious interference.

In this opinion, District Judge Jane Magnus-Stinson reviewed cross-motions for summary judgment filed by DSI and Stevenson. DSI’s motion was denied in its entirety. Stevenson’s motion for summary judgment was granted as to Count 1, breach of the Non-Compete Provision, and Count 2, breach of the Non-Solicitation Provision. Stevenson’s motion for summary judgment on Count 3, breach of the Non-Disclosure Provision, was denied.

The court began by discussing the standard for upholding the provisions at issue. It is a longstanding principle in Indiana that covenants that restrict a person’s employment opportunities are strongly disfavored as a restraint of trade. To be enforceable, such restraints, such as a noncompetition agreement, must be reasonable. The court noted that it, while in many other contexts reasonableness was a question of fact, the reasonableness of a noncompetition agreement was a question of law and, thus, was capable of evaluation in response to the parties’ motions for summary judgment.

The first hurdle for DSI was to show that the agreement protected a legitimate interest, defined as “an advantage possessed by an employer, the use of which by the employee after the end of the employment relationship would make it unfair to allow the employee to compete with the former employer.” Indiana law provides that goodwill, including “secret or confidential information such as the names and addresses of customers and the advantage acquired through representative contact,” is a legitimate protectable interest. DSI argued that it had a legitimate interest in protecting the customer relationships that Stevenson had developed during his years working for DSI as well as the information embodied in DSI’s Customer Lists, Customer Product Preferences, Competitive Pricing, and Competitive Cost Structure, to which Stevenson had been permitted access. The court agreed that this was a protectable interest.

DSI next had to establish that Non-Compete Provision of the agreement was “reasonable in scope as to the time, activity, and geographic area restricted.” DSI argued that the provision was limited merely to restricting Stevenson from engaging in competitive business activity. The court was not convinced. Instead, it noted that, as drafted, the “competitive business activity” restriction applied to the activities of Stevenson’s new employer, not to Stevenson himself. Thus, because Rugby engaged in business activities that were competitive to DSI, the agreement would de facto prohibit Stevenson from working for Rugby in any capacity, despite that no “in-any-capacity” language was explicitly applied to Stevenson in the agreement. “For example,” the court explained, “[under DSI’s agreement,] Mr. Stevenson could not serve lunch in Rugby’s cafeteria or change light bulbs in Rugby’s offices because Rugby competes with DSI.” The court concluded that, as a result, the Non-Compete Provision was overly broad and unreasonable.

Regarding this provision, DSI also contended that alleging and proving that the employee had been provided with trade secrets could render an otherwise unenforceable non-competition clause enforceable. The court rejected this argument.

The court also granted summary judgment for Stevenson on the Non-Solicitation Provision. This provision attempted to restrict Stevenson’s ability to solicit “any customer or prospective customer of [DSI] with which [Stevenson] communicated while employed by [DSI].” The court found this restriction to be vague as to “prospective customer” as well as overbroad and unreasonable in scope.

Finally, the court declined to rule on the Non-Disclosure Provision on summary judgment. It held that, to evaluate whether this provision had been violated, it would need to determine whether “customer lists” and “the identities of key personnel and the requirements of the customers of [DSI]” were confidential. As the evidence submitted regarding confidentiality was “vague, generalized, and conflicting,” the court found that a genuine issue of material fact existed with regard to the Non-Disclosure Provision and, consequently, partial summary judgment in favor of either party was inappropriate on the record before it.

Practice Tip #1: Summary judgment in federal court is guided by Rule 56 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. A motion for summary judgment asks the court to find that a trial on a particular issue or issues is unnecessary because there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and, instead, the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. The moving party is entitled to summary judgment only if no reasonable fact-finder could return a verdict for the non-moving party.

Practice Tip 2: In a similar case, decided earlier this year, the Indiana Court of Appeals affirmed the trial court’s ruling that the noncompetition agreement binding an ex-employee of the plaintiff was overly broad and, thus, unenforceable.

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WASHINGTON, D.C. – The USPTO will offer a forum, presented both on-site and webcast, for stakeholders seeking patent protection in the cybersecurity and network-security sectors.

The U.S. Department of Commerce‘s United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) will host its first Cybersecurity Partnership Meeting tomorrow, Friday, November 14, 2014, in Menlo Park, California. The meeting will serve as a collaborative forum for stakeholders seeking patent protection in the cybersecurity and network security sectors to share ideas, experiences, and insights with USPTO staff.

For this inaugural event, the USPTO has partnered with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (“NIST”), whose experts will present information on their voluntary Framework for Improving Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity. The Framework, created through collaboration between industry and government, consists of standards, guidelines, and practices to promote the protection of critical infrastructure. USPTO staff will also discuss cybersecurity patent initiatives, key computer security patent application statistics, and examination guidelines for patent eligible subject matter following the Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank Supreme Court decision. In addition to the presentations from NIST and the USPTO, several key stakeholders will present their views on topics focusing on the intersection of intellectual property and cybersecurity.

The U.S. Trademark Office issued the following 165 trademark registrations to persons and businesses in Indiana in October 2014 based on applications filed by Indiana trademark attorneys:

Reg. No. Word Mark Click to View
4616762 CUE CANDY VIEW
4630232 BERRY ESSENTIALS VIEW
4628883 IP BAR VIEW
4630201 MEDAPPAREL VIEW
4628574 CERA VIEW
4628564 INTERPRO VIEW
4628555 ALBERT’S VIEW
4628480 HOME PRO VIEW
4628274 CAMPERSWEATHER.COM VIEW
4628192 TRAIL RATIONS PURE HONEY VIEW

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South Bend, Indiana – Indiana patent lawyers for Lippert Components Manufacturing, Inc. of Elkhart Indiana sued in the Northern District of Indiana alleging that MOR/ryde International Inc. and MOR/ryde Inc., both of which are also from Elkhart Indiana, infringed “Equalizer for Suspension System,” Patent Nos. 7,918,478 and 7,296,821, which have been issued by the U.S. Patent Office.

At issue in this litigation are U.S. Patent Nos. 7,918,478 (“the ‘478 Patent”) and 7,296,821 (“the ‘821 Patent”). These inventions pertain to “equalizers” that dampen vibrations for recreational vehicle trailers. Plaintiff Lippert contends that Defendants MOR/ryde International Inc. and MOR/ryde Inc. (collectively, “MOR/ryde”) have infringed, and continue to infringe, these patents. The accused products include MOR/ryde’s CRE/3000 and SRE/4000 equalizer products.

Lippert states that MOR/ryde knew of Lippert’s intellectual property rights in the ‘478 Patent and that, despite this knowledge, MOR/ryde infringed at least claim 1 of that patent. Lippert also asserts that MOR/ryde induced infringement by others as well as contributed to others’ infringement of at least claim 15 of the ‘478 Patent.

Lippert makes similar allegations regarding its ‘821 Patent, stating that MOR/ryde knew of Lippert’s patents rights in that patent and that MOR/ryde nonetheless infringed at least claim 1. Finally, Lippert contends that MOR/ryde induced infringement by others and contributed to others’ infringement of at least claim 14 of the ‘821 Patent.

In this Indiana patent infringement lawsuit, the following claims are asserted:

• Count I: ‘478 Patent Infringement

• Count II: ‘821 Patent Infringement

Lippert asserts that Defendants’ acts have been willful and contend that those actions render this an “exceptional case” as that term is defined in 35 U.S.C. §285.

Lippert asks, via its Indiana patent counsel, that the court:

• Preliminarily and permanently enjoin both MOR/ryde entities and their agents from infringing, or from contributing to or inducing others to infringe, Lippert’s ‘478 Patent and ‘821 Patent;

• Award Lippert monetary damages adequate to compensate Lippert for past infringement consistent with 35 U.S.C. § 284, up to and including treble the amount of actual damages assessed, together with costs and prejudgment interest;

• Award Lippert its reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs pursuant to 35 U.S.C. §285; and

• Order MOR/ryde to provide notice to their customers of the infringing systems and of MOR/ryde’s unlawful acts.

Practice Tip #1:  A court may award increased damages for willful infringement. These extra damages are known as punitive damages. An award of punitive damages, up to and including a trebling of damages, is appropriate when an infringer has acted in wanton disregard of the patentee’s intellectual property rights. In determining whether the infringing behavior supports increased damages, the court will consider the “totality of the circumstances.”

Potential exposure for increased damages may be reduced by seeking – and acting on – timely advice from a competent patent lawyer. In contrast, the failure to seek and heed such advice may increase the probability that the court will find that the defendants have acted willfully.

Practice Tip #2: Lippert is not new to patent litigation. In fact, it has sued various competitors for patent infringement in 2003, 2008, 2012 and again in 2013. Lippert dropped the first three lawsuits. While the 2003 litigation lasted about a year and a half, the infringement actions filed in 2008 and 2012 were dropped only two months after the complaints were filed. The 2013 patent infringement lawsuit is ongoing.

Practice Tip #3: Under U.S. patent law, a trial court may award attorneys’ fees in cases of patent infringement litigation that it deems “exceptional.” Two recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings revisited how “exceptional” is defined. In part as a result of these rulings, plaintiffs filing questionable patent infringement lawsuits must exercise greater caution, as trial judges will now have greater latitude to award attorneys’ fees – including awarding fees to prevailing defendants – in those cases in which they determine that the conduct of the losing party “stands out from others.”

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The U.S. Patent Office issued the following 165 patent registrations to persons and businesses in Indiana in October 2014, based on applications filed by Indiana patent attorneys:

Patent No. Title
8874256 Monitoring and control system for commodity loading 
8872399 Stator winding assembly and method 
8872369 Starter machine system and method 
8872154 Field effect transistor fabrication from carbon nanotubes 
8872102 Ion mobility spectrometer and method of operating same 
8871943 Process for the preparation of 4-amino-5-fluoro-3-halo-6-(substituted)picolinates 
8871727 Ectoparasiticidal methods and formulations 

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SolarDockLightPicture.pngFort Wayne, Indiana – A patent and copyright attorney for Lake Lite Inc. of Laotto, Indiana filed a complaint in the Northern District of Indiana asserting, inter alia, that Universal Forest Products, Inc. of Grand Rapids, Michigan (“UFP”); Universal Consumer Products, Inc., also of Grand Rapids, Michigan (“UCP”); and Maine Ornamental, LLC of Greene, Maine infringed “Solar Dock Light” and “Low Profile Solar LED Lamp,” Patent Nos. D697,246 and 8,845,126, which have been issued by the U.S. Patent Office.

Lake Lite is in the business of designing and selling dock lights and other related products and accessories in the boating/dock industry. Its product line includes solar-related dock lights.

In April 2012, Lake Lite first began to offer a “Solar Dot” line of products. Lake Lite indicates that UFP inquired about collaborating with Lake Lite to offer the Solar Dot products to UFP’s customers and that, in November 2012, a mutual non-disclosure agreement was entered so that confidential information regarding Lake Lite’s Solar Dot products could be disclosed and the potential collaboration evaluated. The disclosed information included Lake Lite’s copyright applications to now-copyrighted materials, registered as U.S. Copyright Nos. VAu001118627 and VAu001156962.

Lake Lite asserts that, during these negotiations, it made numerous modifications requested by UFP for which it was not compensated. Lake Lite and UFP failed to reach an agreement about licensing terms and discontinued negotiations. Instead, Lake Lite asserts, UFP has now wrongfully begun offering its own “Solar Deck and Dock Lights.”

In this Indiana copyright and patent litigation, Plaintiff Lake Lite’s specific complaints include that Defendants have been unjustly enriched as a result of their manufacture, importing, marketing and sale of their solar deck and dock light products. Lake Lite contends that Defendants’ acts include infringement of Lake Lite’s copyrights and patents, unauthorized use and misappropriation of Lake Lite’s confidential information and trade secrets and violation of the mutual non-disclosure agreement between Lake Lite and UCP.

The complaint, filed by a copyright and patent lawyer for Lake Lite, alleges the following:

• Count One – Copyright Infringement

• Count Two – Infringement of U.S. Patent No. D697,246

• Count Three – Infringement of U.S. Patent No. 8,845,126

• Count Four – Breach of Contract

• Count Five – Breach of Implied Duty of Good Faith and Fair Dealing

• Count Six – Violation of Indiana Uniform Trade Secret Act

• Count Seven – Unjust Enrichment

Lake Lite asks for a judgment of infringement of its copyrights-in-suit, of infringement of its patents-in-suit, that the non-disclosure agreement was violated by Defendants, that Defendants violated the implied duty of good faith and fair dealing in their dealings with Lake Lite regarding the Solar Dot products, that Defendants have misappropriated Lake Lite’s trade secrets and that Defendants have been unjustly enriched.

Lake Lite seeks injunctive relief; damages, including punitive damages; costs and fees, including attorneys’ fees.

Practice Tip:

Indiana Code Section 24-2-3-2 defines a trade secret as:

information, including a formula, pattern, compilation, program, device, method, technique, or process, that:

1. derives independent economic value, actual or potential, from not being generally known to, and not being readily ascertainable by proper means by, other persons who can obtain economic value from its disclosure or use; and

2. is the subject of efforts that are reasonable under the circumstances to maintain its secrecy.

The four general characteristics of a trade secret are:

1. it is information;

2. that derives independent economic value;

3. that is not generally known, or readily ascertainable by proper means by others who can obtain economic value from its disclosure or use; and

4. that is the subject of efforts, reasonable under the circumstances, to maintain its secrecy.

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Indianapolis, Indiana – Patent attorneys for Draper, Inc. of Spiceland, Indiana sued in the Southern District of Indiana alleging that Vutec Corporation of Coral Springs, Florida infringed the patented “Roller Operated System with Mounting Assembly for Multi-Stage Installation,” Patent No. 6,532,109, and “Screen System,” Patent No. 6,816,308, which were issued by the U.S. Patent Office.

Draper provides consumers with products such as projection screens, window shades, projector lifts and mounts and other home theater accessories. Vutec designs and manufactures projection screens and audio-visual accessories.

In its complaint, filed by patent attorneys for Draper, the following claims are asserted:

• Count I: Vutec Motorized Projection Screen Model – LECTRIC I-C – Patent Infringement of United States Patent No. 6,532,109

• Count II: Vutec Motorized Projection Screen Model – LECTRIC III-C – Patent Infringement of United States Patent No. 6,532,109

• Count III: Vutec Motorized Projection Screen Model – LECTRIC II-e Patent Infringement of United States Patent No. 6,532,109

• Count IV: Vutec Motorized Projection Screen Model – LECTRIC IV-e – Patent Infringement of United States Patent No. 6,532,109

• Count V: Vutec Motorized Projection Screen Model – LECTRIC I-C – Patent Infringement of United States Patent No. 6,816,308

• Count VI: Vutec Motorized Projection Screen Model – LECTRIC III-C – Patent Infringement of United States Patent No. 6,816,308

• Count VII: Vutec Motorized Projection Screen Model – LECTRIC II-e Patent Infringement of United States Patent No. 6,816,308

• Count VIII: Vutec Motorized Projection Screen Model – LECTRIC IV-e – Patent Infringement of United States Patent No. 6,816,308

Draper asserts that Vutec’s infringement has been willful, deliberate, and with knowledge of Draper’s intellectual property rights and asks that the court:

A. adjudge and decree that U.S. Patent Nos. 6,532,109 and 6,816,308 are valid and enforceable against Vutec and that Vutec has infringed and continues to infringe the patents;

B. grant injunctions enjoining acts of infringement by Vutec, its agents, and those acting in concert with it;

C. enter an award to Draper of such damages as it shall prove at trial against Vutec that are adequate to compensate Draper for said infringement as permitted under the Patent Act;

D. order an award to Draper of up to three times the amount of compensatory damages because of Vutec’s willful infringement and any enhanced damages as provided by 35 U.S.C. § 284;

E. render a finding that this case is “exceptional” and award Draper its costs and reasonable attorneys’ fees, as provided by 35 U.S.C. § 285;

F. award Draper any profits that Draper lost due to Vutec’s infringement of U.S. Patent Nos. 6,532,109 and 6,816,308; and

G. award Draper pre-judgment and post-judgment interests on damages.

Practice Tip: Deciding simply to ignore a complaint can be a costly error. Failing to present the defendant’s account of the facts and arguments about the proper application of the law can result in the trial court considering only the plaintiff’s side of the story. In other words, if the defendants choose to leave a complaint unanswered, the court may deem the well-pled allegations of the plaintiff to have been admitted by the defendants due to their failure to deny them.

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South Bend, Indiana – Indiana copyright attorneys for ABRO Industries, Inc. of South Bend, Indiana sued in the Northern District of Indiana alleging that 1 New Trade, Inc. of Baltimore, Maryland (“New Trade”), Quest Specialty Coatings, LLC of Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin (“Quest”), Igor Zorin and Boris Babenchick and Vadim Fishkin, infringed copyright protections associated with ABRO’s carburetor and choke cleaner package, pending U.S. Copyright Application Case No. 1-1845314781, which is currently under review with the U.S. Copyright Office.

ABRO markets and sells various automotive, industrial and consumer products throughout the world. It claims ownership of an extensive portfolio of intellectual property rights in more than 165 countries. ARBO indicates that, since at least 1992, it has continuously sold and distributed a carburetor and choke cleaner, the packaging of which is the subject of this intellectual property lawsuit.

In this copyright litigation, ABRO alleges that New Trade, under the direction and control of Zorin, Babenchik and Fishkin, is unfairly competing with ABRO by obtaining products from an affiliate of an ABRO supplier in the United States and then distributing the products in containers nearly identical to ABRO’s containers used with identical products, in the same markets, and to the same customers.

Defendants Zorin, Babenchick, Fishkin and New Trade are accused of having reproduced ABRO’s packaging work by using “nearly identical” packaging for New Trade’s competing carburetor and choke cleaning product. Defendants Zorin and Babenchick are the principal owners of Defendant New Trade. Defendant Fishkin is New Trade’s general manager. Defendant Quest is accused of supplying the carburetor and choke cleaning product.

In its complaint, filed by Indiana copyright lawyers, ABRO lists the following claims:

• Count I: Copyright Infringement

• Count II: Personal Liability and/or Vicarious Liability for Copyright Infringement -Zorin, Babenchik, and Fishkin

In its complaint, filed by Indiana copyright lawyers, ABRO asks for the following:

A. Judgment on all counts against each of the Defendants individually and jointly and severally and in favor of ABRO;

B. A preliminary and permanent injunction enjoining and restraining Defendants, their agents, and all persons who act in concert and participation with them who learn of the injunction through personal service or otherwise:

(1) From further acts of infringement; and

(2) From copying, using, distributing, publishing by any means or creating a derivative work of the Work under 17 U.S.C. §502;

C. An award of actual damages caused by and any profits obtained by Defendants attributable to infringement of the Work pursuant to 17 U.S.C. §504(b);

D. For infringement of the Work occurring after registration thereof, an award of statutory damages or alternatively actual damages caused by and any profits obtained by Defendants attributable to the infringement pursuant to 17 U.S.C. §§504(b) and 504(c);

E. Impoundment and destruction of all products, catalogs, advertisements, promotional materials or other materials in Defendants’ possession, custody or control found to have been made or used in violation of ABRO’s copyrights pursuant to 17 U.S.C. §503;

F. An award of reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs pursuant to 17 U.S.C. §505; and

G. An award of prejudgment and post-judgment interest.

Practice Tip:

This is an interesting complaint. Plaintiff makes what, at first glance, appears to be a case of trademark/trade-dress infringement, including allegations such as “intent to capitalize on ABRO’s goodwill and well-known reputation,” which are normally found in a trademark complaint. ABRO also refers in its complaint to its “extensive anti-counterfeiting program throughout the world… [which has] has resulted in countless raids, product seizures, arrests and jail terms for counterfeiters.” Yet this lawsuit is styled as a copyright case.

Copyright law in the United States is founded on the Constitutional goal of “promot[ing] the Progress of Science and useful Arts” by providing exclusive rights to creators. Protection by copyright law gives creators incentives to produce new works and distribute them to the public. In doing so, the law strikes a number of important balances in delineating what can be protected and what cannot, determining what uses are permitted without a license, and establishing appropriate enforcement mechanisms to combat piracy.

The law of copyright is generally thought of as affording protection to works that are typically thought of as art – books, paintings, music and the like. Nonetheless, works that are not primarily designed as art, such as elements of product packaging, might still secure protection by registering with the U.S. Copyright Office. A copyright registration, if available, is easier and less expensive to obtain than a registered patent or trademark. The registration remains valid much longer than a patent and does not require use in commerce, as does a trademark.

Copyright protection also provides benefits to a plaintiff when suing for infringement. In many cases, copyright infringement can be proved more easily than others types of infringement. Moreover, the damages available upon proof of infringement include statutory damages, available without a showing of harm, as well as attorneys’ fees, which are available without pleading or proving that the case was “exceptional.”

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Washington, D.C. – New free, secure service simplifies patent application procedures.

The U.S. Department of Commerce’s United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) and the State Intellectual Property Office of China (“SIPO”) recently launched a new free service that will allow the two offices to electronically exchange patent application priority documents directly. This new service will help streamline the patent application process and reduce costs for businesses, which are increasingly pursuing patent rights globally.

The new service will allow the USPTO and the SIPO, with appropriate permissions, to obtain electronic copies of priority documents filed with the other office from its electronic records management system at no cost to the applicant. With this new service, applicants will no longer need to obtain and file paper copies of the priority documents; however, they are still responsible for ensuring that priority documents are provided in a timely manner.

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Indianapolis, Indiana – An Indiana patent attorney for Eli Lilly and Company of Indianapolis, Indiana (“Lilly”) and The Trustees of Princeton University of Princeton, New Jersey (“Princeton”) filed a patent infringement complaint in the Southern District of Indiana alleging that Nang Kuang Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. of Tainan City, Taiwan and CANDA NK-2, LLC of Waco, Texas infringed and/or will infringe ALIMTA®, U.S. Patent Nos. 5,344,932 (“the ‘932 patent”) and 7,772,209 (“the ‘209 patent”; collectively, “the patents-in-suit”), which have been issued by the U.S. Patent Office.

ALIMTA, which is licensed to Lilly, is a chemotherapy agent used for the treatment of various types of cancer. ALIMTA is composed of the pharmaceutical chemical pemetrexed disodium. It is indicated, in combination with cisplatin, (a) for the treatment of patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma, or (b) for the initial treatment of locally advanced or metastatic nonsquamous non-small cell lung cancer. ALIMTA also is indicated as a single agent for the treatment of patients with locally advanced or metastatic nonsquamous non-small cell lung cancer after prior chemotherapy. Additionally, ALIMTA is indicated for maintenance treatment of patients with locally advanced or metastatic nonsquamous non-small cell lung cancer whose disease has not progressed after four cycles of platinum-based first-line chemotherapy. One or more claims of the ‘209 patent cover a method of administering pemetrexed disodium to a patient in need thereof that also involves administration of folic acid and vitamin B12. The ‘932 patent, titled “N-(pyrrolo(2,3-d)pyrimidin-3-ylacyl)-Glutamic Acid Derivatives,” along with the ‘209 patent, have been listed in connection with ALIMTA in the FDA’s publication Approved Drug Products with Therapeutic Equivalence Evaluations.

This Indiana patent infringement lawsuit arises out of the filing by Defendant Nang Kuang of an Abbreviated New Drug Application (“ANDA”) with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) seeking approval to manufacture and sell generic versions of ALIMTA prior to the expiration of the ‘932 and ‘209 patents. Nang Kuang filed as a part of that ANDA a certification of the type described in Section 505(j)(2)(A)(vii)(IV) of the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, 21 U.S.C. § 55(j)(2)(A)(vii)(IV), with respect to the patents-in-suit, asserting that the claims of the patents-in-suit are invalid, unenforceable, and/or not infringed by the manufacture, use, offer for sale, or sale of Defendants’ ANDA products.

In their complaint, filed by an Indiana patent lawyer, Lilly and Princeton state that Defendants intend to engage in the manufacture, use, offer for sale, sale, marketing, distribution, and/or importation of Defendants’ ANDA products and the proposed labeling therefor immediately and imminently upon approval of the ANDA i.e., prior to the expiration of the patents-in-suit. Plaintiffs asserts that Defendants’ actions constitute and/or will constitute infringement of the patents-in-suit, active inducement of infringement of the patents-in-suit, and contribution to the infringement by others of the patents-in-suit.

The complaint, filed by an Indiana patent lawyer, lists the following claims:

  • Count I: Infringement of U.S. Patent No. 5,344,932
  • Count II: Infringement of U.S. Patent No. 7,772,209

Lilly and Princeton ask the court for:

(a) A judgment that Defendants have infringed the ‘932 patent and/or will infringe and/or actively induce infringement of the ‘932 patent;

(b) A judgment ordering that the effective date of any FDA approval for Defendants to make, use, offer for sale, sell, market, distribute, or import Defendants’ ANDA Products, or any product the use of which infringes the ‘932 patent, be not earlier than the expiration date of the ‘932 patent, inclusive of any extension(s) and additional period(s) of exclusivity;

(c) A preliminary and permanent injunction enjoining Defendants, and all persons acting in concert with Defendants, from making, using, selling, offering for sale, marketing, distributing, or importing Defendants’ ANDA Products, or any product the use of which infringes the ‘932 patent, or the inducement of any of the foregoing, prior to the expiration date of the ‘932 patent, inclusive of any extension(s) and additional period(s) of exclusivity;

(d) A judgment declaring that making, using, selling, offering for sale, marketing, distributing, or importing of Defendants’ ANDA Products, or any product the use of which infringes the ‘932 patent, prior to the expiration date of the ‘932 patent, infringes, will infringe and/or will actively induce infringement of the ‘932 patent;

(e) A judgment that Defendants have infringed the ‘209 patent and/or will infringe, actively induce infringement of, and/or contribute to infringement by others of the ‘209 patent;

(f) A judgment ordering that the effective date of any FDA approval for Defendants to make, use, offer for sale, sell, market, distribute, or import Defendants’ ANDA Products, or any product the use of which infringes the ‘209 patent, be not earlier than the expiration date of the ‘209 patent, inclusive of any extension(s) and additional period(s) of exclusivity;

(g) A preliminary and permanent injunction enjoining Defendants, and all persons acting in concert with Defendants, from making, using, selling, offering for sale, marketing, distributing, or importing Defendants’ ANDA Products, or any product the use of which infringes the ‘209 patent, or the inducement of or contribution to any of the foregoing, prior to the expiration date of the ‘209 patent, inclusive of any extension(s) and additional period(s) of exclusivity;

(h) A judgment declaring that making, using, selling, offering for sale, marketing, distributing, or importing of Defendants’ ANDA Products, or any product the use of which infringes the ‘209 patent, prior to the expiration date of the ‘209 patent, infringes, will infringe, will actively induce infringement of, and/or will contribute to the infringement by others of the ‘209 patent;

(i) A declaration that this is an exceptional case and an award of attorneys’ fees pursuant to 35 U.S.C. § 285; and

(j) An award of Plaintiffs’ costs and expenses in the action.

Practice Tip #1: This summer, Lilly succeeded in defending the ‘209 method-of-use patent in before District Judge Tanya Walton Pratt in the Southern District of Indiana. The court found, inter alia, that the patent did not fail for “obviousness.”

Practice Tip #2: Obviousness is a legal conclusion based on underlying factual findings. Such findings include: 1) the scope and content of the prior art; 2) the differences between the claims and the prior art; 3) the level of ordinary skill in the art; and 4) objective considerations of non-obviousness such as commercial success and satisfaction of a long-felt need. Moreover, it is insufficient that prior art merely includes separate references to the subject matter of a subsequent patent claim. Instead, obviousness requires the additional showing that a person of ordinary skill in the art of the subject matter would have combined those elements of the prior art.

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