2010 Litigation Victories

All cases listed are in federal court.

Our client Lifetech Resources, LLC received a partial summary judgment over Allergan, Inc., involving a patent infringement suit over Allergan's eyelash enhancement patent in the Central District of California. Merchant & Gould's team blended extensive trial and biochemistry experience.
Merchant & Gould successfully established copyright protection over the software that its client, Drives & Controls Services, Inc. (DCS), developed to upgrade surface mining machines, leading to entry of a permanent injunction against infringement in the District of Wyoming.
We represented the maker of a world famous dice game, winning a trademark infringement/ counterfeiting suit including an injunction against a company manufacturing knock-offs of the genuine game in the District of Minnesota. We blended a team with extensive trial and trademark experience. The court granted a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction to stop infringing sales. The win was especially noteworthy because another court had earlier questioned the validity of the client's mark in a separate proceeding handled by a different law firm.
Merchant & Gould's client, Champagne Louis Roederer of Reims, France, producer of Cristal Champagne® won a trademark infringement judgment and injunction after a bench trial in the District of Minnesota. Merchant & Gould's team relied on extensive experience with trial and trademark matters, and overcame an early adverse ruling by winning a reversal before the Eighth Circuit on the issue of laches.
The United States District Court in Minneapolis denied all post-trial motions made by Camtek, Ltd and sustained the jury verdict reached in March, 2009 which held that Camtek infringed on Rudolph Technologies' U.S. Patent No. 6,826,298. The patent at issue covers semiconductor wafer inspection technology. The Court also recommended the grant of supplemental damages exceeding $600,000 and granted discovery regarding potential contempt. The Federal Circuit denied Camtek's motion before the CAFC to stay part of the permanent injunction.
Merchant & Gould won a litigation victory in the District of South Dakota including an injunction in a trademark case on behalf of The First National Bank in Sioux Falls over First National Bank South Dakota, First National Merchant Solutions, First National Bank of Omaha and First National of Nebraska, Inc. The team again blended extensive trial and trademark experience to prevail on a finding that a disclaimer was insufficient to alleviate infringement.
Our client Hysitron Inc. successfully resolved its two cases pending in the District of Minnesota against MTS Systems Corp. wherein both parties charged patent infringement, after MTS's claims were dismissed with prejudice. The cases involved precision measuring instruments. Merchant & Gould's successful team including experienced lead trial counsel and an intellectual property attorney with a Ph.D. in Materials Science.
Merchant & Gould won a trademark infringement, unfair competition, and counterfeiting case involving 3M's Littman brand stethoscopes against Pradeep Mohan, resulting in a judgment finding deliberate infringement. Merchant & Gould's team included extensive Internet and domain name expertise combined with trial and trademark expertise.
The District of Minnesota granted summary judgment in favor of Wind Turbine Industries Corporation with respect to the ownership of the trademark JACOBS for wind energy equipment. A trial team composed of litigators and trademark prosecutors successfully argued that the defendant's abandoned the JACOBS mark and that Wind Turbine had priority over the defendant's use. Wind Turbine was also awarded summary judgment to cancel the defendant's trademark registration for the JACOBS mark.
The National Arbitration Forum granted Merchant & Gould client Polaris Industries' request to transfer the domain name polaris.com from a registrant that was using the domain name to place advertising links to Polaris. The combined team of trademark and litigation attorneys with extensive Internet experience collaborated to prepare both English and French pleadings. Merchant & Gould attorneys from Minnesota, Wisconsin, Tennessee, Colorado, and Georgia collected the geographic evidence used to secure the domain name.
Merchant & Gould represented both the State of Alaska and former Governor Sarah Palin with respect to a subpoena and testimony in a high-profile criminal case against a defendant charged with improperly accessing emails in connection with the 2008 U.S. presidential race in the Eastern District of Tennessee.
A team of M&G lawyers and paralegals successfully resolved a multi-patent, multi-court litigation for an industry-leading manufacturing client against Textron. The M&G team utilized reexamination of the adverse party's patents and as well as our own client's patents to obtain a stay of the litigation and strengthen our client's position. The Patent and Trademark Office later confirmed the patentability of our client's patents, while rejecting the patentability of the competitor's patents. The case resolved favorably.
We obtained a defense win at trial in CCC Group Inc. v Martin Engineering Inc. in the District of Colorado. The patents at issue were held unenforceable due to inequitable conduct.
The District of Colorado granted our client summary judgment on copyright and trademark issues in Gennie Shifter v Lokar Inc.
Our clients won summary judgment of unfair competition/false advertising/consumer fraud in the Beutow et al v. ALS Enterprises, Inc., Cabela's Inc., and Gander Mountain Co. case pending in the District of Minnesota, regarding claims that certain hunting jackets were falsely advertised as odor-free. Merchant & Gould supplied trial and technology expertise, including selection and cross examination of experts in activated carbon technology.
We represented an industry-leading electronics retailer in trademark litigation against an online infringer. Our team was able to obtain a judgment for our client that not only transferred the defendant's domain name to our client but also all of the defendant's phone numbers that had ever been associated with the infringing mark.
ePlus Inc v Lawson Inc.: defending Lawson in the "rocket docket" of Eastern Virginia in a case involving a $30 million damages claim and three patents regarding electronic commerce. The plaintiff's damages case was excluded before trial. The plaintiff secured settlements in earlier litigations exceeding $50 million from two large software companies. Merchant & Gould's team includes trial, Internet, computer software, and damages law expertise.
For Your Ease Only v Calgon: Represented the plaintiff suing the patent owner regarding a patent for anti-tarnish jewelry organizers. The case was stayed pending a reexamination of Calgon's patent which Merchant & Gould requested. After Calgon lost its two appeals of the rejection of its claims on reexamination, Calgon voluntarily dismissed its infringement claim in 2010. Our claims for tortious interference and unfair competition remain pending in the Northern District of Illinois. Our team includes attorneys with extensive expertise in trials and reexaminations.
Boylan Group v ADP: represented small sales consulting company against ADP in copyright infringement/breach of contract case regarding Boylan Group's sales materials. Following negotiations and filing of suit in the District of Minnesota, case resolved by a favorable settlement.