Failure to disclose patents to SSO results in unenforceabilty against products using standard

Mon, 23 Mar 2009 16:11:00-0500

In a recent decision, the Federal Circuit affirmed-in-part a district court decision that a patentee had breached a duty to disclose relevant video-compression technology patents while participating in a joint video team standards-setting organization (SSO). The Federal Circuit, however, reversed in part the district court decision finding the patents unenforceable against the world, instead holding the patents should only be held unenforceable against products embodying the applicable video standard.

The court affirmed the district court's finding that the case was exceptional and awarding attorney fees to the defendant. The plaintiff had concealed the existence of tens of thousands of relevant documents throughout discovery, with their existence not revealed until near the end of trial (we previously blogged about the district court's decision awarding fees here). The Federal Circuit held this litigation misconduct was sufficient to support the exceptional case finding even absent the failure to disclose the patents to the SSO.

More on Qualcomm Inc. v. Broadcom Corp. after the jump.

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Failure to disclose patents to SSO results in unenforceabilty against products using standard