Business News

FUJIFILM Corporation wins patent infringement case in U.S. Court of Appeals

Thursday 31. March 2011 - FUJIFILM Corporation announced that the company has received a favorable decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in a patent infringement case brought by St. Clair Intellectual Property Consultants, Inc.

St. Clair sued Fujifilm on February 28, 2002 in the Federal District Court in Delaware alleging that Fujifilm’s digital cameras infringed four U.S. patents owned by St. Clair. In August 2004, the District Court interpreted the claims of the four patents, and a jury entered a verdict of infringement of all four patents in October 2004 based on the District Court’s claim interpretation.
Fujifilm firmly believed that the District Court erred in interpreting St. Clair’s patents and that, if properly limited, those patents did not cover any FUJIFILM products.
Based on that firm belief, Fujifilm appealed the District Court’s claim construction ruling and asked the Federal Circuit to reverse the October 2004 jury verdict. Fujifilm pursued its challenge to the District Court’s ruling even after a final judgment and appeal were delayed several years, during which St. Clair initiated a second litigation against FUJIFILM Corporation under the same patents for damages from sales in 2004 – 2010.
On January 10, 2011, the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals issued a decision that accepted Fujifilm’s position on claim interpretation and reversed District Court’s judgment of infringement. The Federal Circuit decision gives Fujifilm a complete victory in the case and directs the District Court to enter a judgment that Fujifilm’s digital cameras do not infringe the St. Clair’s patents. More recently, on March 29, 2011, the Federal Circuit denied St. Clair’s petition for rehearing, returning the case to the District Court for entry of judgment in favor of Fujifilm.
Fujifilm has a policy of respecting intellectual property rights and considering those rights in developing and selling products. At the same time, Fujifilm is committed to standing firm against patent owners who pursue litigation based on overly broad interpretations of their intellectual property rights or claims of infringement that lack merit.
Fujifilm was represented in this case by attorneys Steven Routh and Sten Jensen of the Washington D.C. office of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe.
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