Erise shareholders Eric A. Buresh, Mark C. Lang and Michelle L. Marriott, along with counsel Jason R. Mudd and associate attorney Kelly Hughes, secured a complete defense verdict for technology giant Sony, earning the firm its third consecutive win at one of the most notoriously difficult courts in the country, the Eastern District of Texas.
The plaintiff in the case, Infernal Technology, accused Sony, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, and some of Sony’s best-selling games of all time (including Spider-Man and God of War) and demanded more than $100 million in damages.
The trial, in front of Judge Gilstrap, started on October 4 and when it went to the jury on October 7, it took only two hours for the jury to return with a complete defense verdict of noninfringement. And, in a rare move, the jury also found the plaintiff’s patent was “well-understood, routine, and conventional,” the first step in a finding the patent is invalid under section 101.
For background, there have been seven challenges to Infernal patents at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) and Infernal has survived them all. For example, it previously sued Microsoft and Electronic Arts and both defendants (represented by traditional BigLaw firms) resolved the suits with settlements.
As a note, no other Kansas City law firm – large or small – has this track record for defense verdicts in Texas; Erise is trying more cases and winning more cases in front of Texas juries than anyone else in the city.
The case was covered by Law360 and Patently-O.