Covering intellectual property developments in New England, and other developments that impact New England companies.

Category Archives: Design Patents

False Patent Marking Counterclaim Dismissed for Failure to Plead Deceptive Intent with Particularity

In a recent decision involving a dispute between head-to-head competitors in the market for “poster boards and poster board accessory products,” Judge Bolden in the District of Connecticut dismissed defendant Royal Consumer Products, LLC’s (“Royal”) counterclaim for false patent marking for failure to plead the claim with sufficient particularity. According to the decision, Plaintiff ArtSkills, … Continue Reading

Lights Out for Invalidity and Unenforceability Counterclaims After PTAB Invalidates Design Patent

By Micah Miller on August 1, 2016 Posted in Declaratory Judgment, Design Patents, Inter-Partes Review, Manufacturing, Massachusetts, Patent Office, Procedure/Jurisdiction, Stays, Summary Judgment

Flipping the switch on the last remaining claims in the case, a Massachusetts Court recently dismissed as moot two defendants’ counterclaims for declaratory judgment of invalidity and unenforceability following a PTAB decision invalidating the asserted patent. In 2013, Maureen Reddy sued defendants Lowe’s and Evolution Lighting for infringement of U.S. Design Patent No. D677,423, alleging … Continue Reading

Lights Out on Boilerplate Discovery Responses

By Laura Stafford on December 8, 2014 Posted in Design Patents, Manufacturing, Massachusetts, Procedure/Jurisdiction

A growing number of judges around the country are becoming wary of litigants that appear to be abusing the discovery process, and in effect driving up the cost of patent litigation. Clamping down on such practices appears to be the impetus behind one recent discovery order in the District of Massachusetts, scolding a litigant for its boilerplate … Continue Reading

LEGO to Cra-Z-Art: “You’re not our Friends.”

By Anthony Cataldo on June 18, 2014 Posted in Connecticut, Copyright, Design Patents

On March 20, 2014, LEGO A/S filed a complaint in the District of Connecticut against competitor LaRose Industries LLC d/b/a Cra-Z-Art, alleging copyright and patent infringement and violation of the Connecticut Unfair Trade Practices Act. The case is before Judge Robert N. Chatigny in New Haven, CT. In its Complaint, the Danish toymaker alleges that … Continue Reading