Russ, August & Kabat attorneys Benjamin T. Wang, Jacob R. Buczko and Christian Conkle won a jury verdict of patent infringement for client, Nanology Alpha LLC. The asserted patent, U.S. Patent No. 5,756,997, is directed to a scanning probe/optical microscope used in atomic force microscopy to study materials at the nanoscopic scale, and was invented by Victor B. Kley, a pioneer in the field of microscopy who holds over 100 patents. Defendant WITec is a leading German manufacturer of scanning probe microscopes.
In pretrial rulings, the District Court rejected each of WITec’s invalidity defenses, narrowing the eventual trial solely to the issues of infringement and damages. After a four day trial, the eight member jury returned a verdict of infringement in favor of Nanology, and awarded damages equivalent to a 5% royalty for WITec’s infringement.
Testament to the professionalism of the Russ, August & Kabat attorneys at trial, the District Judge concluded the trial with the following:
“I’ve tried nearly 30 cases in the last three-and-a-half years. This case falls into that category of a very few cases where the parties have just done an outstanding job of working together during the course of the trial. It has been a privilege to work with you all and to watch you all work together. At every turn throughout the course of this case, you have treated each other with professionalism and with courtesy. There were significant, real disputes during the course of the trial that we worked through. We got the case presented to the jury, and we have a verdict now. But really at every turn, you dealt with each other in good faith, and you did your best to resolve disputes when you could; and when you couldn’t, you made your best presentation and you were courteous at all times to each other in the courtroom. So, all of that is to say that made my job a little bit easier; and it makes, I think, us — or it should make us prouder of the profession that we all practice when you can have a dispute as significant as this one has been for these parties and we can put the case on well and get along as nicely as we have this week. So, congratulations to you all.”