If a patent plaintiff gets a verdict for no money, is it a win or not?

Originally published by Michael C. Smith.

As readers know, I have been keeping a close watch on local trends in patent cases since the patent docket emerged in the early 1990’s, from the plaintiffs’ anni horribili of 2007 and 2013 – to which we can now add the long stretch from last fall, to the well-documented defendants’ losing streak that ended in the fall of 2006, and all the dull intervening years where the verdicts just seesaw back and forth.

Week before last was easy – we won a noninfringement verdict for defendant Steelseries in Judge Payne’s court (have I mentioned that before? – can’t remember if I have, but yes, we did), and plaintiff Genband won the next day in Judge Gilstrap’s court. But this week is a little harder to classify.

In Nichia Corporation v. Everlight Electronics Co., Ltd. et al, 2:13cv0702 (1/25/16) Judge Gilstrap conducted a bench trial on the plaintiff’s claims of infringement.  He found the claims infringed and not invalid, but the plaintiff had withdrawn its claim for money damages based on a reasonable royalty or other theory, and was only seeking injunctive relief.  In a 134 page set of findings of fact (picture a JMOL ruling after years of performance-enhancing drugs and you’ll get the idea of what FF look like) Judge Gilstrap denied the injunctive relief, finding that there was no showing of irreparable harm.

In the end, I think I’ll just use the case’s status as a bench trial instead of a jury verdict to ignore it, rather than try to figure out whether to classify it as a plaintiff or defense win.

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