Perfect Surgical Techniques, Inc. v. Olympus America, Inc.
et al., Case No. 12-5967 (Judge Hamilton)
Not every hour spent on successful motion practice is treated
equally (or at all) in determining appropriate Rule 37 sanctions,
according to Judge Hamilton's March 14, 2014 Order awarding partial attorney fees. Even
though Judge Hamilton seems to agree that patent litigation is a
specialized practice that may justify higher rates, she
nevertheless awarded Defendants in this case 25% of their claimed
fees after successful efforts to strike infringement
contentions.
Defendants moved to strike as insufficient Perfect
Surgical's first amended Patent Local Rule 3-1 infringement
contentions, which were based largely on user manuals. The Court
ordered Plaintiff to supplement its contentions after
"evaluat[ing] up close each of the accused devices." But
Perfect Surgical purchased only one of four accused products, and
Defendants again moved to strike the supplemented
