Southwest Airlines Garners Fees, Including Fees Expended in USPTO Reexamination Proceedings.
U.S. District Judge Cathy Ann Bencivengo (S.D Cal.), on August 19, 2015, awarded Southwest Airlines $387,182 in attorney’s fees and costs after USPTO deemed the patent invalid, finding the patent infringement case to be exceptional under 28 U.S.C. § 285 and Octane Fitness. However, the district judge confronted a little-discussed issue, but determined that the fee recovery should properly include Southwest’s attorney work in USPTO reexamination proceedings, because that work effectively substituted for work that would have been done at the district court level and effectively determined the merits of the matter. (See Deep Sky Software, Inc. v. Southwest Airline Co., No. 3-10-cv-01234 (S.D. Cal. Aug. 19, 2015 order.)
Betty Boop Owner/Manatt Score Fees From L.A. Superior Court Judge as Malicious Prosecution Prevailing Parties.
Be careful when you are thinking about suing for malicious prosecution, because if you lose attorney’s fees and costs could be assessed against you as damages. Plaintiff movie artwork publisher, after defensing Betty Boop’s owner in a prior infringement case, then sued BB’s owner and its counsel Manatt Phelps for malicious prosecution. Plaintiff lost and, on August 21, 2015, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Elizabeth Feffer awarded BB’s owner over $200,000 in fees and Manatt $315,608 in fees for fending off the malicious prosecution suit.
Author: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User:H3yjt&action=edit. GNU Free Documentation License, v. 1.2.
Apple Is the Costs Winner In Its Patent Infringement Suit Against Samsung.
U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh (N.D. Cal.) recently determined on August 20, 2015 that Apple Inc. was entitled to recover about $1.1 million in costs as prevailing party in its smartphones patent infringement suit against Samsung Electronics. Samsung, too, had asked for recovery of costs based on winning one counterclaim, but that request was denied.