Washington, D.C. – July 23, 2010 – Holland & Knight is pleased to announce that John P. Moran, an attorney in the firm’s Washington, D.C. office was successful in upholding his client, Raba-Kistner’s win over Atser Research Technologies Inc. in Federal Appeals Court.
Speaking on behalf of his client, Raba-Kistner Consultants Inc., Moran said, “We are very pleased with the appeals court’s ruling, especially in view of the litigation misconduct that gave rise to the finding that the case is exceptional and the award of attorney’s fees to Raba-Kistner.”
For almost four years, Raba-Kistner fought accusations that its software infringed an Atser patent. Atser originally accused Raba-Kistner’s software used on a Texas state highway project. Atser expanded the suit to include Raba-Kistner’s commercial software and demanded millions of dollars in damages.
From the beginning of the case, Raba-Kistner and Moran fought to have Atser provide documents from its early work leading to the patent. Despite a court order to provide the documents, Atser did not do so. Raba-Kistner was able to overcome the Atser’s roadblock when Holland & Knight located copies of documents in the archives of the Utah Department of Transportation.
Using the documents it found in Utah, Raba-Kistner asked U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas to invalidate Atser’s patent. Last year, the District Court handed Raba-Kistner a complete victory. Not only did it find the Atser patent invalid, but it also found that that Atser’s failure to provide documents was litigation misconduct that rendered the case exceptional. The District Court also awarded Raba-Kistner attorney’s fees, amounting to about $1.2 million, due to Atser’s litigation misconduct.
Atser appealed to the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Within twenty-four hours of hearing the appeal, the Court affirmed Raba-Kistner’s victory.
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