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ARTICLE · 24 JANUARY 2025

The Federal Circuit Affirms Deterrence Sanctions

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The Federal Circuit affirmed a district court's award of sanctions for bad faith against a plaintiff's conduct based on the meritless nature of several lawsuits filed in incorrect venues.

United StatesIntellectual Property
Sofya Asatryan
Sofya Asatryan
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The Federal Circuit affirmed a district court's award of sanctions for bad faith against a plaintiff's conduct based on the meritless nature of several lawsuits filed in incorrect venues.

Background

The case1 involves PS Products Inc. and Billy Pennington (collectively "PSP") as plaintiffs-appellants against Panther Trading Co. Inc. ("Panther") as the defendant-appellee. The appeal is from a decision by the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas, which granted Panther's motion for sanctions against PSP.

PSP owns U.S. Design Patent No. D680,188, related to a stun device, and alleged Panther infringed this patent. Panther argued the infringement claim was frivolous, as the patented design and the accused product were dissimilar, and the venue was improper. Panther filed a motion to dismiss the case, and after discovering prior art similar to the patented design, demanded PSP dismiss the lawsuit. PSP moved to

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