Intellectual Property Litigation

Middleton Reutlinger has extensive experience in intellectual property (“IP”) litigation.  Our firm’s IP litigation team actively litigates (prosecutes and defends) cases in federal and state courts and has obtained and defended temporary restraining orders, preliminary and permanent injunctions, and judgments in significant patent, trademark, trade secret, and copyright cases across the country.

Our firm’s IP litigation team includes registered patent attorneys with backgrounds in major scientific disciplines, including mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, computer science, high-tech ceramic engineering, and aspects of biotechnology.  The IP litigation team has practiced before all levels of state trial and appellate courts in various states and throughout the federal court system nationwide, including the Supreme Court of the United States.  The skills of our litigation attorneys are evident in the many reported cases of successful representation, several cases having become benchmarks in the current reported law.

Below are just a few examples of representative IP litigation matters:

Patent Infringement Litigation 

• Defended two separate patent infringement cases involving technology for the loading of catalyst in tubular reactors. Both cases were in the Southern District of Texas (Houston). Successfully resolved both actions after receiving an affirmation of summary judgment by the Federal Circuit in the first action and obtaining summary judgment in the second action. Successfully represented the same service provider in an international arbitration regarding breach of a patent license agreement.
• Represented a patent holder involving technology for shake-out conveyors in the Northern District of Illinois (Chicago). The Court issued a ruling adopting our client’s proposed construction of the meaning of patent terms and the case settled with the infringing machine withdrawn from the market.
• Represented patent holder involving technology for commercial lighting in the District of Massachusetts (Boston) in a jury trial. The Court entered judgment in favor of our client and awarded damages and enjoined the defendant from further infringement of our client’s patent rights. Case was affirmed on appeal by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, and a petition for certiorari was defeated.
• Represented patent holder, an Australian orthopedic surgical drill bit company, against international orthopedic manufacturer and former employee in Northern District of Illinois (Chicago).  The manufacturer left the business and the employee was enjoined.
• Represented defendant, an enterprise file transfer software provider, in well-known Eastern District of Texas (Tyler) involving a patent for a method to prevent piracy of a software program.  Case successfully resolved.
• Represented patent holder, a biologics division of large implant manufacturer, in Central District of California (Los Angeles) involving equipment and methods for blood processing. The case also involved defending plaintiff against an antitrust counterclaim. Patents enforced and antitrust claim dropped.
• Represented defendant, a leading provider of leak detection software to the petrochemical industry, in the Southern District of Texas (Galveston) involving patents related to methods for monitoring and collecting fugitive emissions data. Case successfully resolved.

Trademark Litigation 

• Obtained a unanimous landmark decision for our client, an accused infringer, from the United States Supreme Court in Moseley v. V Secret Catalogue, Inc. (2003) regarding the Federal Trademark Dilution Act.
• Represented a U.S. Fortune 5 company in the District of Missouri (St. Joseph) in connection with claims against a former licensee for trademark infringement, unfair competition and trademark dilution of its famous trademarks and service marks.  Obtained a default judgment against the infringer and then obtained an award of all attorneys’ fees and costs under the Lanham Act.
• Represented trademark owner in the District of Colorado (Denver) to enforce and protect our client’s federally registered trademarks in the healthcare industry.

Trade Secret Litigation 

Our IP litigation team has handled multi-state cases protecting complex trade secrets in such diverse fields as the chemical industry, tax preparation franchises, and food processing technology.

Administrative Proceedings 

Our IP litigation team also handles matters before administrative tribunals including the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, and the U.S. Copyright Office.

• Represented the petitioner, a leading world-wide provider of leak detection software to the petrochemical industry, in two separate inter partes reviews before the USPTO challenging the validity of patents relating to methods for monitoring and collecting fugitive emissions data.
• Represented the petitioner, one of the world’s leading lighting manufacturers, in four separate inter partes reviews before the USPTO challenging the validity of patents relating to light-emitting diode technology.
• Represented developer of well-known video game in connection with a claim for trademark cybersquatting brought in the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center and successfully obtained a judgment against the cybersquatter resulting in a transfer of the domain name at issue.
• Represented one of the world’s largest manufacturers of industrial elevators and construction hoists in connection with a claim for trademark cybersquatting brought in the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center and successfully obtained a judgment against the cybersquatter resulting in a transfer of the domain name at issue.