Litigation

For more than 60 years, Woodcock Washburn has been successfully litigating intellectual property cases - including patent infringement, trademark, copyright and other disputes - at the trial and appellate levels. We frequently obtain resolutions on behalf of our plaintiff clients, whether by trial or settlement, valued in the tens of millions of dollars. Our defendant clients often have actions dismissed before trial or at the early stages of the proceedings.

Fortune 500 companies and small startups alike look to our firm to solve their intellectual property disputes. Woodcock Washburn is consistently recognized for its litigation expertise. For example, Corporate Counsel ranked Woodcock Washburn as one of the top intellectual property firms in 2005.

Woodcock Washburn has extensive experience litigating complex intellectual property cases across the nation. We also are involved in litigations concerning trade secrets or covenants not to compete. Our lawyers have litigated cases before federal courts in nearly half of the states in the country during the last few years. We are familiar with local rules in many jurisdictions and understand judges' tendencies in patent cases.

Our attorneys' combined technical backgrounds and legal expertise gives Woodcock Washburn an edge in all types of intellectual property litigation. We translate complex scientific and technical concepts into language juries and judges can comprehend, a critical step in bringing home a decision in our clients' favor. By gaining a thorough understanding of our client’s technology and business strategy, we often see issues that others miss.

Some recent cases at the trial level in which we represented clients include:

  • The Graham Company v. USI MidAtlantic & Haughey (E.D. Pa.). Our firm obtained a nearly $19 million jury verdict in June 2006 in this copyright case involving copying of insurance manuals.
  • TruePosition Inc. v. Allen Telecom Inc., (D. Del. 2004). Woodcock Washburn obtained a $35-million settlement for TruePosition as well as warrants entitling TruePosition to purchase one million shares of Andrew's common stock at a price of $17.70 per share for a period of four years along with licenses to certain Andrew intellectual property.
  • ABB Automation Inc. v. Schlumberger Resource Management Services Inc. (D. Del. 2003). Our firm obtained a jury verdict of $22.3 million for Elster Electricity in a patent infringement action involving electrical meters.
  • Jansen v. Rexall Sundown Inc. (Fed. Cir. Sept. 2003). Woodcock Washburn attorneys obtained a summary judgment of patent noninfringement for Rexall Sundown, Inc. from the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana. In addition, we were successful in having the summary dismissal affirmed by the Federal Circuit.
  • Heuser v. Boston Scientific Corp. (D. Ariz. Aug. 2003). Our firm successfully defeated a trade secret misappropriation and unjust enrichment action brought against Boston Scientific Corp.
  • CFMT Inc. v. Dainippon Screen Mfg. Co. (N.D. Cal. 2002). Woodcock Washburn obtained a jury verdict on liability for CFMT Inc. in this patent infringement case. Before the damages issues were tried, our client received $40 million along with an agreement that the defendant would pay future royalties until the patents expire, bringing the total settlement amount to approximately $70 million.
  • Constar International Inc. v. Continental PET Technologies, Inc. (D. Del. 2002). Our firm obtained a favorable decision for Constar International Inc. in a dispute over rights under a patent license agreement. As a result of that decision, Constar was able to reach a favorable settlement that included a payment of $25.1 million.

Woodcock Washburn also successfully settles many disputes to our clients' satisfaction, although the amounts are confidential. A few recent cases include:

  • DePuy Inc. & DePuy Orthopaedics Inc. v. Zimmer Holdings Inc. & Zimmer Inc. (N.D. Ill. 2006), a patent infringement case.
  • Vermeg Services S.A.R.L. v. SEI Global Services, Inc. and SEI Investments Company (E.D. Pa. 2005), a trade secret/contract breach case.
  • Civix-DDI LLC v. Expedia Inc. and Travelscape Inc. (N.D. Ill. 2005), a patent infringement case.
  • Bayer Healthcare LLC v. Abbott Corp., (D. Del. 2004), a patent infringement case.

In addition, our attorneys frequently appear on behalf of clients before the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals. Some recent examples include:

  • North American Container Inc. v. Plastipak Packaging Inc. et al., Nos. 04-1306, -1307 (Fed. Cir. July 14, 2005), affirming a summary judgment of noninfringement in favor of Constar.
  • Anheuser-Busch Companies Inc. v. Crown Cork & Seal Techs. Corp., 121 Fed. Appx. 388 (Fed. Cir. Dec. 23, 2004), reversing construction of the claims of Crown's patent and summary judgment of noninfringement of Crown's patent and affirming the district court's judgment that Crown did not infringe Anheuser-Busch's patent.
  • Home Diagnostics Inc. v. LifeScan Inc., 381 F.3d 1352 (Fed. Cir. 2004), reversing claim construction in LifeScan's favor.
  • Civix-DDI LLC v. Microsoft Corp. et al., District Court (D. Colo. 1999), affirming grant of summary judgment of noninfringement that Woodcock Washburn obtained for Microsoft.