Aspex Eyewear, Inc. v. Zenni Optical LLC
Addressing the issue of whether collateral estoppel applies when
claim construction issues overlap, the U. S. Court of Appeals for
the Federal Circuit affirmed the finding of a lower court that
collateral estoppel applied when a plaintiff sought to litigate
patents against products that were indistinguishable from those
that previously had been found not to infringe. Aspex Eyewear,
Inc. v. Zenni Optical LLC, Case No. 12-1318 (Fed. Cir., Apr.
19, 2013) (Newman, J.).
Plaintiff Aspex Eyewear sued Zenni Optical for infringement of
multiple U.S. patents for magnetic clip-on eyewear such as
sunglasses. Specifically, the patents are directed to magnets that
secure the bridge portions of the eyewear. The district court found
that Aspex was collaterally estopped from pursuing infringement
because it had earlier brought suit on the same patents against
another company, Altair Eyewear. The case against Altair involved
the same three
