Delaware Patent Litigation Report : Delaware Intellectual Property Lawyer & Attorney : Morris James Law Firm : Delaware Patent Litigation Report

The patents-in-suit related to Controlled Flight Into Terrain technology in the aviation industry.  Plaintiff alleges that there is substantial evidence of willful infringement, including actual knowledge of the patent, appreciation of the risk of infringement as evidenced by the fact that a patent opinion was deemed a major issue but never provided, and that no written record exists to corroborate defendant’s non-infringement analysis.  The Court finds that plaintiff has failed to show that defendants conduct was objectively reckless.  Unrefuted testimony shows that before going to market with the accused product, a patent review was performed and discussed with outside counsel.  The argument that a non-infringement opinion was necessary to prevail on summary judgment of non-willfulness is rejected.  Although defendant moved for summary judgment, the burden of proving willfulness by clear and convincing evidence rests with plaintiff.  Plaintiff was required to and failed to meet this standard to avoid summary judgment.