On August 19, Chief Judge Petrese Tucker of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania issued an opinion awarding more than $6.5 million in attorneys’ fees to two defendant corporations who prevailed at trial in a patent infringement case. The fee award is the largest issued since the U.S. Supreme Court’s May 2014 ruling in Octane Fitness, LLC v. Icon Health & Fitness, Inc. changed the standard that courts use to determine if the prevailing party is entitled to payment of its fees and costs in patent cases deemed “exceptional” under Section 285 of the Patent Act (35 U.S.C. § 285), and is the fourth-largest fee award in a patent case in the last decade. The final fee award is expected to be even larger, approximately $8 million, due to additional fees in pursuing the case to this point. The case was featured in several publications, including Law360 and The Legal Intelligencer. Pepper Hamilton partners M. Kelly Tillery, Erik N. Videlock and Charles S. Marion represented one of the defendant corporations, Sensormatic Electronics Corp.
Judge Tucker’s opinion is available here.
