In Stein v. Blankfein, C.A. No. 2017-0354-SG (Del. Ch. May 31), the Delaware Court of Chancery issued one of its firstopinions addressing director compensation following the Delaware Supreme Court’s ruling in In re Investors BancorpStockholder Litigation, 177 A.3d 1208 (Del. 2017), that stockholder approval of a compensation plan may only “ratify”future director awards if the board…

In Abbott Cardiovascular Systems, Inc. v. Edwards Lifesciences Corp., No. 19-149-MN (Mar. 5, 2019), Judge Noreika denied the plaintiffs’ motion for a temporary restraining order. The plaintiffs initially moved to preliminarily enjoin the defendants’ accused mitral valve repair system from infringing the asserted patents. After some initial discovery, the plaintiffs additionally moved for a temporary restraining…

In Cosmo Technologies Ltd. v. Actavis Laboratories FL, Inc., No. 15-164-LPS (Mar. 27, 2019), and related case, Chief Judge Stark granted the defendants’ motion to declare the cases exceptional and to award attorneys’ fees. At trial, the Court granted the defendants’ motion for judgment of non-infringement on partial findings under Fed. R. Civ. P. 52(c) at…

In HIP, Inc. v. Hormel Foods Corp., No. 18-802-CFC (Mar. 28, 2019), Judge Connolly dismissed the plaintiff’s infringement claims for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. In one of its counts, the plaintiff sought an order of correction under 35 U.S.C. § 256 that its president be named the sole inventor and owner of the asserted patent…

In Dorco Co. v. Gillette Co., No. 18-1306-LPS-CJB (Mar. 14, 2019), Chief Judge Stark denied the defendant’s motion to stay pending arbitration (brought both under the Federal Arbitration Act and as a matter of judicial discretion) and denied as moot the plaintiff’s motion to enjoin arbitration. The parties agreed that an earlier settlement agreement between them…

This update provides short updates on judicial decisions, trends, and notable events in the United States District Court for the District of Delaware, traditionally one of the three busiest jurisdictions for intellectual property litigation.

In Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Angewandten Forschung e.V. v. Sirius XM Radio Inc., No. 17-184-JFB-SRF (Mar. 8, 2019), Magistrate Judge Fallon denied the defendant’s motion to declare the case exceptional. The defendant had prevailed on a license defense. Judge Fallon found that the plaintiff’s position on the merits was not objectively unreasonable. According to the Court,…

In Orexo AB v. Actavis Elizabeth LLC, No. 17-205-CFC (Mar. 12, 2019), Judge Connolly denied the plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment to preclude the defendants from challenging the invalidity of the asserted patent. In an earlier case, the plaintiffs had accused one of the defendants here of infringing the same patent, but by a different product.…

In Finnavations LLC v. Payoneer, Inc., No. 18-444-RGA (Mar. 18, 2019), and a related case, Judge Andrews granted the defendants’ motions for exceptional case and attorneys’ fees. The defendants sought fees following the Court’s finding that the asserted patent was directed to the abstract idea of bookkeeping and lacked an inventive concept. Judge Andrews stated that…

In Belcher Pharmaceuticals, LLC v. International Medication Systems, Ltd., No. 18-960-LPS-CJB (Mar. 31, 2019), Chief Judge Stark denied the defendant’s motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim. The defendant had filed a new drug application under 21 U.S.C. § 355(b)(2) with a Paragraph IV certification that the patent-in-suit was invalid, prompting the litigation. The…