"The dispute originated from a complaint that EscapeX filed in the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas, alleging that Google's YouTube Music product infringed U.S. Patent No. 9,009,113. Google responded with a letter asserting that EscapeX had failed to conduct an adequate pre-suit investigation, as the accused features were not present in the product. EscapeX then amended its complaint, changing the accused product to a YouTube Video with Auto-Add."
"Google replied that a simple internet search would have shown that this feature predated the '113 patent's priority date, rendering the patent anticipated and invalid if it were found to infringe. Despite Google's repeated requests to dismiss the suit, EscapeX did not view the case as "exceptional." The district court agreed with Google, finding it was "obvious that EscapeX conducted no serious pre-suit investigation and that this case was frivolous from the start.""
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed a district court award of more than $250,000 in attorneys' fees to Google and upheld sanctions under 28 U.S.C. § 1927. The court found EscapeX pursued a frivolous patent infringement claim and that its attorneys acted recklessly in prolonging litigation. EscapeX initially accused YouTube Music of infringing U.S. Patent No. 9,009,113, then amended to accuse a YouTube Video Auto-Add feature. Google showed the accused feature predated the patent's priority date and argued EscapeX failed to conduct an adequate pre-suit investigation. The district court concluded EscapeX's claims were baseless from the start.
Read at IPWatchdog.com | Patents & Intellectual Property Law
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]