Fresh From the Bench: Latest Federal Circuit Court Cases

CASE OF THE WEEK

Enplas Display Device Corp. v. Seoul Semiconductor Co., Ltd., Appeal No. 2106-2599 (Fed. Cir. Nov. 19, 2018)

In an appeal from a jury verdict and JMOLs in a patent infringement case, the Federal Circuit set new precedent concerning lump sum royalties and induced infringement.

The patents in the case concern “light bars” used to backlight flat-screen televisions.  Enplas and SSC worked collaboratively to manufacture light bars that were covered by SSC’s patents.  In 2012, SSC suspected that Enplas was selling the light bars to SSC’s competitors.  SSC sent Enplas a letter asserting infringement, and Enplas filed a declaratory judgment action.

One of the key issues was whether Enplas had induced infringement of SSC’s patents.  The jury found Enplas liable for induced infringement—selling the infringing light displays to companies that would then sell them into the United States.  Enplas, a Japanese company that sold the light bars to companies like Samsung, argued that it could not be held liable for induced infringement because SSC could not prove that Enplas both knew of the existence of the patents and also knew that Enplas’s customers would sell the products in the United States.  It was not disputed that Enplas knew of the patents.  But with respect to knowledge of the infringement, Enplas argued that it did not know that any infringing acts would take place in the United States.

Read More

Written by: Scott D. Eads and Nika Aldrich, Schwabe Williamson & Wyatt