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Kenyon Successfully Represents Toyota in Years-Long Patent Litigation

Kenyon & Kenyon LLP successfully represented Toyota Motor Corp. in a long term patent litigation against American Vehicular Sciences (AVS). Originally brought by AVS in the Eastern District of Texas, the matter asserted 24 patents across seven separate cases – accusing essentially every major Toyota vehicular safety system. In the three years since the original filing, the Kenyon team filed 12 separate petitions for inter partes review (IPR) and won a stay in the E.D. Tex. pending resolution of the IPRs. The Patent Trial and Appeal Board granted each of the IPRs, and significant claims were cancelled or dropped. Additionally, the Kenyon team successfully petitioned the Federal Circuit for a writ of mandamus and the case was transferred from the E.D. Tex. to the Eastern District of Michigan, and filed various invalidity summary judgment papers, causing the plaintiff to drop a number of other asserted patents. In May of 2015, the E.D. Mich. granted the plaintiff’s unopposed motions to dismiss with prejudice all of the remaining cases against Toyota. (2015)

Patent Litigation

Overview

Our Patent Litigation Practice

Kenyon & Kenyon LLP handles high stakes patent litigation matters for a wide range of leading international companies.  We have extensive experience litigating before the US federal courts, state courts and the International Trade Commission and have successfully litigated jury and bench trials in all of the major patent litigation venues.

Our Clients

Our clients include leading international companies whose businesses depend on the strength of their patents. Our recent patent litigation clients include:

  •  Robert Bosch Group
  •  Hewlett-Packard
  •  Toyota
  •  Boston Scientific
  •  Volkswagen
  •   Applied Materials
  •  Sony
  •   Barnes & Noble
  •   Lenovo

 

Our Strengths:  High-Stakes Trial and Appellate Litigation

We are formidable adversaries in the courtroom, and frequently act as trial counsel in cases where the amounts in controversy and demands are too high for settlement to be a viable option.  Multi-defendant groups regularly elect us to act as lead trial counsel.  Our reputation as a top notch patent litigation firm frequently provides our clients with leverage during settlement negotiations, allowing us to resolve our clients’ cases for fractional amounts of the damages claimed.  We are able to advise parties at an early stage about how cases are likely to proceed, taking advantage of our years of experience with the leading venues and judges.

We also have significant appellate experience, and have numerous successes convincing the Federal Circuit to uphold lower court decisions that favor our clients and persuasively arguing for the reversal of invalidity and infringement decisions rendered against our clients by the lower courts.

Select Recent Victories

  • Bosch.  Kenyon is helping to define the continued availability of injunctions after the U.S. Supreme Court’s eBay decision in Robert Bosch LLC v. Pylon Manufacturing Corp.
  • Sony. Kenyon achieved a favorable settlement for our client Sony in a high-profile dispute against LG Electronics, representing Sony in five U.S. litigations (including two ITC cases) involving patents pertaining to liquid-crystal display televisions and monitors, mobile phones and Blu-ray DVD technology.
  • Volkswagen.  Kenyon won a Federal Circuit appeal affirming its summary judgment of non-infringement win for Volkswagen AG, Audi AG, and Volkswagen Group of America in an Eastern District of Texas patent infringement case brought by patent holding company MHL Tek against nine automakers. The case, which related to tire-pressure monitoring systems, marked a major victory for the auto industry.
  • Barnes & Noble. Kenyon defended Barnes & Noble in protecting its NOOK eReader products from claims of patent infringement made by Microsoft concerning various hardware and software patents in In the Matter of Certain Handheld Electronic Computing Devices.
  • Sinorgchem.  Kenyon successfully obtained a judgment terminating an ITC investigation concerning rubber antidegradants for client Sinorgchem.  After extensive briefing and argument, the Administrative Law Judge granted Sinorgchem’s motion to terminate the investigation based on claim preclusion and to stay discovery.  Termination of a Section 337 investigation at such an early stage of the proceedings, without any discovery, is extremely rare at the ITC. 
  • Actavis (Watson).  Represented Actavis in litigations related to Actavis’s ANDA seeking approval for a generic version of Sanctura XR®, an extended release formulation of trospium chloride. Patents asserted by Allergan were found invalid as obvious after trial. 
  • Photocure ASA. Kenyon represented Photocure before the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, in a case related to Metvixia®, which is used to treat skin cancer. The court affirmed the lower court’s decision granting a significant patent term extension to Photocure. 
  • Sony.  Kenyon successfully persuaded the Federal Circuit to uphold summary judgment in all respects for Sony in a patent infringement case. Sony was first sued in the Northern District of California by Trans Video Electronics for alleged infringement of a patent directed to a global digital news distribution system. Trans Video contended that Sony infringed by distributing video content through Sony’s PlayStation Network as well as other devices that connect to the Internet.
  • Boston Scientific.  Kenyon obtained a finding of summary judgment in favor of Boston Scientific in a case involving potentially several hundreds of millions of dollars in damages. The accused technology was drug-eluting stents; the court held that Johnson & Johnson’s four patents were invalid.

What Others Say About Us

  • Named to “The 2014 IP Hot List” by National Law Journal.
  • “They are just spectacularly good lawyers who have a strong knack for cutting straight to the chase.”Chambers USA (2013)
  • “Kenyon & Kenyon’s highly experienced team has a lot of expertise and knowledge about how to best serve clients’ needs.” The Legal 500 United States (2012)

Lawyers with Significant Technical Experience

Our technical knowledge frequently positions us to understand our clients’ business better, and to develop winning arguments in court.  Our years of patent litigation experience, combined with our strong grasp of the science and technology underlying our clients’ patents, enables us to easily explain complicated subject matter to less technically unsophisticated judges and juries.

Ninety-five percent of our attorneys hold undergraduate and/or graduate degrees in science or engineering, and many of our lawyers have also worked in our clients’ industries as scientists or engineers.  We understand the product, business and industry implications of our clients’ innovations. Our in-depth industry knowledge allows us to hit the ground running at the outset of each engagement.

Representative Experience

Experience

Insights and News

Senate Bill Tips Scales for Patent Owners in AIA ReviewsJUNE 5, 2015

Partner Antony Pfeffer was quoted by Law360 regarding The PATENT Act.

Kenyon Ranked as a Leading IP Firm by Chambers USAMAY 19, 2015
Kenyon Successfully Represents Toyota in Years-Long Patent LitigationMAY 15, 2015

Kenyon successfully represented Toyota Motor Corp. in a long term patent litigation against American Vehicular Sciences in the Eastern District of Michigan.

Congress Holds Additional Hearings on Patent Reform, Protecting Innovation and the American EconomyIP TOPICSAPRIL 15, 2015
AIA Review Denials Don't Always Free Patent OwnersApril 10, 2015
Google, Microsoft Win Another Round in Online-Ad IP ReviewsApril 06, 2015
Proposed AIA Rules Give Patents Better Chance of SurvivalMarch 31, 2015
An Assessment of The Commil Briefings and Potential FalloutLaw360March 27, 2015
AIA Reviews Are Constitutional, USPTO Tells Federal CircuitMarch 25, 2015
Kenyon & Kenyon LLP Announces New Partners and CounselMarch 12, 2015
Law360 Intellectual Property Editorial Advisory BoardMARCH 10, 2015
Couture Counsel: 4 Hot Trends in Fashion LawFebruary 13, 2015
Supreme Court Changes Appellate Standard of Review: Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc. v. Sandoz, Inc.IP TOPICSJANUARY 20, 2015
Fighting Patent Trolls Without Going to CourtJanuary 09, 2015
Trolls Taste Own MedicineDecember 15, 2014
Federal Circuit Affirms Warner Chilcott's Actonel Patents InvalidNovember 19, 2014
Federal Circuit Ad Patent Ruling will Spur Early Alice AttacksNovember 17, 2014
Federal Circuit Upholds Most of PTAB Chip Patent DecisionNovember 17, 2014
Kenyon Named a Top Tier IP Law Firm in 2015 "Best Law Firms" November 03, 2014
Erstattung von Anwaltskosten in U.S.-Patentstreitverfahren, GRUR Int. 2014, 1017 (November 2014)IP TOPICSNOVEMBER 01, 2014
Federal Circuit Judges' Bid to Revisit Willfulness May Aid PatenteeOctober 24, 2014
PTAB to Review Claims in Novartis' Dementia Patch PatentsOctober 16, 2014
Volkswagen, Bentley Slam Signal IP's Safety Patent ClaimsOctober 08, 2014
4 Recent Federal Circuit Rulings IP Attorneys Need to KnowOctober 03, 2014
Kenyon Lawyers Named as 2014 New York Super Lawyers and New York Rising StarsSeptember 30, 2014
Sony Gets HumanEyes' 3-D Camera Patents Nixed At PTABSeptember 25, 2014
VW, Bentley Get Claims Pared in Car Safety Patent RowSeptember 24, 2014
Wait! USPTO to Issue New Iteration of Myriad-Mayo GuidanceIP TOPICSSeptember 18, 2014
Learning from the First Biosimilar ApplicationIP TOPICSSeptember 16, 2014
Judge Tosses Jury Verdict, Rules L-3 Patent Claims ObviousSeptember 15, 2014
Cisco Loses Review Bid for Channel Management PatentSeptember 03, 2014
Kenyon Defeats Inter Partes Review for C-Cation TechnologiesSeptember 02, 2014
The Broadest Reasonable Construction Standard and the Consideration of Claim Construction by a District Court at the Patent Trial and Appeal BoardIP TOPICSAugust 22, 2014
Apotex Case Shows Inequitable Conduct is Still a Potent ToolAugust 20, 2014
Five Kenyon Lawyers Recognized by Best LawyersAugust 18, 2014
Some Business Method Patents are Ineligible for CBM ReviewIP TOPICSAugust 05, 2014
ITC Judge Ends Lenovo Patent ProbeAugust 01, 2014
ITC ALJ Finds No Violation of Section 337 by Lenovo in Investigation No. 337-TA-897: Optical Devices Failed to Establish a Domestic IndustryIP TOPICSAugust 01, 2014
Apple, Samsung Top Filers of AIA Review PetitionsJuly 07, 2014
Who’s Who Recognizes Seven Kenyon Attorneys as Leading Practitioners July 07, 2014
PATENT—PTAB: Car Audio Delivery System Patent Claims Invalid as Anticipated, ObviousJuly 03, 2014
PTAB Upholds VW Win in Car Navigation Patent DisputeJune 26, 2014

Kenyon & Kenyon LLP partners Michael J. Lennon and Clifford A. Ulrich were mentioned in “PTAB Upholds VW Win in Car Navigation Patent Dispute,” an article published by Law360. The article discusses the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s recent ruling upholding a patent examiner's rejection of three claims of a car navigation patent held by Beacon Navigation GmbH following a review initiated by Volkswagen Group of America Inc., saying the claims were obvious and anticipated by prior art. Messrs. Lennon and Ulrich are representing Volkswagen in the matter.

The Legal 500 United States Ranks Kenyon as a Top IP Firm for 2014June 25, 2014
Lawyers Weigh in on High Court's Software Patent RulingJune 20, 2014
Supreme Court Issues Decision in Alice Corporation v. CLS Bank International: Unanimously Affirms Federal Circuit Decision Invalidating ClaimsIP TOPICSJune 19, 2014
Intellectual Ventures Not Top of AIA Hit ListJune 11, 2014
2014 Annual Biotech Patent Law UpdateIP TOPICSJune 11, 2014
Standing Ruling May Chill AIA Reviews by Interest GroupsJune 06, 2014
Kenyon Ranked as Leading Patent Firm in IAM Patent 1000 2014June 04, 2014
High Court Indefiniteness Test Will Spur Rush to Nix PatentsJune 03, 2014
Lawyers Weigh in on High Court's Induced Infringement RulingJune 03, 2014
Lawyers Weigh in on High Court's Patent Indefiniteness RulingJune 03, 2014
Kenyon Named to The National Law Journal’s “The 2014 IP Hot List”June 03, 2014
Chambers USA Ranks Kenyon as a Leading Firm in IP for 2014May 27, 2014
Managing Intellectual Property Names Kenyon a Top Firm and Names Seventeen Lawyers as 2014 “IP Stars”May 16, 2014
Getting the Deal Through – Patents in 37 Jurisdictions Worldwide - 2014IP TOPICSMay 16, 2014
Toyota Nails Partial Dismissal of Sound System IP SuitMay 12, 2014
Door Open for Animal Clone Patents Despite Dolly RulingMay 09, 2014
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