Fractus Reaches Patent Infringement Settlement with ZTE after Favorable Court and PTAB Rulings
Heim, Payne & Chorush has successfully settled another patent infringement lawsuit on behalf of Spanish antenna technology company Fractus, S.A. The settlement with Chinese telecommunications corporation ZTE closes the book on a patent infringement lawsuit filed in 2017 over claims that ZTE had infringed on a family of patents covering multiband antennas used in cell phones and other portable communication devices.
The March 2020 confidential settlement follows a series of victories earned by the trial team that included successfully defending a summary judgment motion in October 2019 and obtaining a critical ruling before the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board. The litigation team included Michael Heim, Leslie Payne, Blaine Larson and Alden Harris from Heim, Payne & Chorush and Max L. Tribble, Ophelia F. Camina, Justin A. Nelson and Lora J. Krsulich of Susman Godfrey.
Writes Law360:
ZTE lost a bid for summary judgment in the case in October, with Judge Kinkeade rejecting the Chinese telecom’s characterization of Fractus’ claim construction of a key term in the case as being too limiting to clear it of infringement.
That was the second setback for ZTE in the case last year, with the Patent Trial and Appeal Board denying its challenges to the asserted patents, saying the case in Texas federal court would likely go to trial before the board could make a decision. The board also said the challenged claims had withstood similar challenges previously.
Heim, Payne & Chorush trial lawyers previously prevailed on behalf of Fractus in a jury trial against Samsung. In May 2011, a jury agreed that Samsung had infringed all claims asserted by Fractus. The verdict – recognized by VerdictSearch as the fifth largest intellectual property verdict in Texas in 2011 –included a finding of willful infringement and a subsequent award of ongoing royalties. HPC handled the appeal, and the parties reached a settlement following a favorable ruling at the Federal Circuit.