Anthony Ostlund obtains $1.86 million jury verdict in patent infringement case and prevails on appeal
Client Issue
Anthony Ostlund client Circuit Check, Inc. is a large manufacturing company that produces circuit board test fixtures. QXQ Inc., a competitor, copied our client’s technology, violated three of Circuit Check’s patents, and was selling infringing products to companies across the country.
QXQ admitted infringement, but claimed that our client’s patents were invalid. Our client placed critical importance on a win at trial. It wanted to recover damages from the infringing sales, to establish the validity of its patents, and to maintain its hard-fought competitive advantage.
The Anthony Ostlund Approach
Anthony Ostlund sued QXQ for patent infringement and damages for lost sales and royalties. QXQ wanted to avoid submitting the case to a jury and preferred to have a judge decide whether the patents were valid. We defeated a motion for summary judgment and argued that a jury should be permitted to decide whether the patents were valid.
QXQ also wanted the case tried in California, a venue far from our client’s hometown in Minnesota. We were unable to bring the case in Minnesota, but we were able to sue in Wisconsin and succeeded in keeping the case there. We argued that Circuit Check and QXQ had both sold products to the same customer in Wisconsin, and that that specific Wisconsin customer had likely provided QXQ with Circuit Check’s test boards and therefore, Circuit Check’s technology.
Results Achieved
Our strategic choices ended up being critically important to our client’s case. At the conclusion of a four-day jury trial in Wisconsin, the jury deliberated for less than three hours and found in favor of our client. The jury found that QXQ’s infringement had been willful and that QXQ had failed to prove that Circuit Check’s patent was invalid. The jury awarded our client $1.8 million in damages.
After trial, QXQ persuaded the judge to overturn the jury’s verdict and rule that the patents were invalid. Anthony Ostlund appealed that decision to the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals. The Federal Circuit reversed the judge’s decision and reinstated the jury verdict finding that the patents were valid and awarding damages for infringement.
Click here to read the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals order (PDF).
Circuit Check, Inc. v. QXQ Inc.
