Intellectual Property Law

Magistrate Judge Stark Follows Judge Farnan's Prior Claim Construction in St. Clair Digital Camera Cases

By Karen E. Keller, Andrew A. Lundgren et al.

On Friday, Magistrate Judge Stark's claim construction came down on another set of patent infringement cases by St. Clair Intellectual Property Consultants based on their digital camera patents. St. Clair Intellectual Property Consultants, Inc. v. Matsushita Electronic Industrial Co., LTD., 04-1436-LPS (D. Del. Nov. 13, 2009). This case is the latest in a series of cases by St. Clair Intellectual Property Consultants against various companies for infringement of these digital camera patents. Interestingly, this is the third time that these patent claims have been construed by the District of Delaware (the first two cases were before Judge Farnan). While Judge Stark noted that Judge Farnan's constructions in the first two cases were not necessarily binding against these defendants, the court's analysis led it to follow Judge Farnan's interpretation of each claim anyway. The majority of the claims were construed in favor of St. Clair's proposed interpretations. From the looks of this holding (and the fact that everything seems to have a camera these days), I would suspect that the District of Delaware will continue to see cases brought by St. Clair.

St. Clair Intellectual Property Consultants, Inc. v. Matsushita Electronic Industrial Co., LTD., 04-1436-LPS (D. Del. Nov. 13, 2009)

Full post as published by Delaware IP Law Blog on November 16, 2009 (boomark / email).