Procopio successfully defends U.S. Cellular

Attorneys from the San Diego law firm Procopio, Cory, Hargreaves & Savitch successfully defended wireless company U.S. Cellular in a patent infringement lawsuit related to its modem cards.

The plaintiff, DNT LLC, had been seeking more than $170 million in damages and a potential order stopping the sale of the wireless modem devices. The lawsuit had been filed against several wireless carriers, including Sprint-Nextel (NYSE: S), Verizon Wireless (NYSE: VZ), AllTel Communications, T-Mobile and Novatel Wireless (Nasdaq: NVTL).

"This was a significant victory for consumers who rely on this technology," said Anthony J. Dain, a litigation partner with Procopio who represented U.S. Cellular Corp.

DNT asserted that its technology patent on an improved auto dialer had been infringed by several wireless carriers, including U.S. Cellular. At issue was the wireless carriers' sale of wireless modem cards used to access the Internet in conjunction with subscriber laptops.

U.S. Cellular and the other defendants disputed the charges, noting that DNT's patent did not mention or address cellular communications or modems and did not explain how to make the wireless modem cards claimed to be covered by the patent. DNT's patent also failed to fully describe the scope of the claimed invention with respect to wireless communications.

"I think what really made a difference is that the plaintiff was trying to run away from their own patent and what the patent actually described," said Procopio partner Victor M. Felix, who helped represent U.S. Cellular. "They wanted to interpret claims as widely as possible."

Just prior to the trial, the U.S. District Court of the Eastern District of Virginia granted partial judgment for the defendants, finding that wireless modems using a USB connection did not infringe on the plaintiff's patent.

Then, following a two-week trial, the jury returned a unanimous verdict, declaring that the asserted patent claims were not infringed and were invalid due to obviousness, failure to meet the written description requirement and failure to meet the "enablement" requirement found in the patent statutes.

The defense team, while large and representing multiple clients, did a good job of working together, according to Felix.

"It was seamless," he said. "Sometimes with multiple defendants, one attorney steps over the others. I think our group did well."

Dain and Felix were assisted by Procopio attorneys Lisel Ferguson and Noel Gillespie as well as staff members Jacky Klimek, Liz Villarama, Fua Akeli, Michele Fuger and Rhoda Daniels.