September 2018: Major Appellate Victory on Patent Infringement Claims on Wireless Hotspots

The firm won a major appellate victory in the Federal Circuit on behalf of clients Novatel Wireless and Verizon Wireless, affirming a complete defense jury verdict obtained by the firm in 2017. The firm prevailed in a one-week jury trial before the Honorable Marilyn Huff in the Southern District of California in April 2017, where the San Diego jury took just over two hours to return its verdict that there was no infringement of any of the seven asserted claims, a decisive win in favor of Quinn Emanuel’s clients.

The plaintiff (Carucel) sought to overturn the jury’s verdict in an appeal to the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, requesting that the Court of Appeals reverse the jury verdict and enter a judgment of infringement or, in the alternative, order a new trial, arguing that the jury should not have been permitted to consider certain evidence about the functionality of the accused device when applying the district court’s claim construction. The Court of Appeals rejected the plaintiff’s arguments on appeal in their entirety and affirmed the jury’s finding of no infringement on all asserted claims.

Not only does this appellate victory eliminate all of Carucel’s claims against our clients’ products, it also helps other smartphone manufacturers using hotspot technology because Carucel will have little incentive to pursue other smartphone manufacturers for infringement of these patents.