Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit Upholds Lower Court's Findings in Favor of Small Entrepreneur

Merchant & Gould, an intellectual property law firm, today announced that it has won a litigation victory on behalf of its client, inventor Michael Bowling, over Hasbro, Inc. at the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. The appellate court ruled in favor of inventor Michael Bowling and upheld all of the findings of the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island.

Bowling sued Hasbro for patent infringement having to do with certain MONOPOLY® games sold by Hasbro. In March 2008, A Providence, R.I. jury found that Hasbro's unauthorized use of crystal-shaped dice in a 1999 premium edition of the MONOPOLY® board game warranted a monetary award to fairly compensate Mr. Bowling. The award, including interest, was almost $1 million. Hasbro appealed the award and a number of other issues. However, the appellate court affirmed the award and all the other issues in Bowling's favor.

"Merchant & Gould prosecuted the original patent in 1998, and we represented Mr. Bowling at trial and during the appeal," said lead appellate counsel Rachel Zimmerman. "Our patent prosecution team, led by Julie Daulton, displayed excellent foresight 11 years ago when they designed a patent that would hold up well in trial. We are seeing the fruits of their labor today."

Rachel Hughey from Merchant & Gould was also involved in the appeal, as were attorneys Tony Zeuli and Tom Leach who tried the case to the Providence jury.