Holding
In Dragon Intellectual Pro. v.
Dragon filed suit against
Under 35 U.S.C. § 285, a court may award reasonable attorney's fees to the prevailing party "in exceptional cases." The district court J found this to be an exceptional case. Because of Dragon's "clear disclaimer in the intrinsic evidence" and its knowledge of non-infringement, this case "stood out from others with respect to Dragon's substantive litigating position and was thus exceptional," which allowed for an award of reasonable attorney's fees.1
The attorney's fees, however, did not include those fees incurred during voluntary IPR proceedings. Citing to Federal Circuit case law,2the Defendants argued that a "case" should be viewed as an "inclusive whole" and fees should be awarded.
However, the district court found clarification in a later Federal Circuit decision that "inclusive whole" only referred to district court and appellate proceedings.3Turning to the Defendant's arguments that the IPR was filed because they "thought it was the most cost-effective way to resolve the case," the district court found that the IPR was a voluntary, nonjudicial proceeding. Therefore, the court found no persuasive legal analysis authorizing attorney's fees for the IPR proceedings.
Lastly, Defendants argued that Dragon's former attorneys should be jointly and severally liable for any fee awards. Disagreeing, the court noted that federal courts follow a presumption that if the statute "does not explicitly permit a fee award against counsel, it prohibits it." Because § 285 does not explicitly permit a fee award against counsel, the court found no basis to impose liability.
Footnotes
1. See Dragon Intellectual Prop. v.
2.
3. Amneal Pharms. LLC v.
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