Houston Team Represents Drive DeVilbiss Healthcare in Dismissal of Patent Infringement Suit

A Locke Lord team of Charles Baker and Daniel Nguyen (both of Houston) recently obtained the dismissal of a patent infringement suit brought against Drive DeVilbiss Healthcare in the Eastern District of Texas. The team filed a Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss the suit, brought by patent holding company My Health, Inc., under Alice, arguing that the patent was invalid because it failed to recite patentable subject matter under § 101. On Feb. 14, 2017, their motion was granted by Magistrate Judge Payne in a Report and Recommendation that was later approved and adopted by Judge Schroeder on March 27, 2017, who then dismissed the case with prejudice. This decision is noteworthy because in the more than 30 previous lawsuits filed by My Health in the EDTX, the Court had denied similar attempts to dismiss the case under Alice, agreeing with My Health that the motion was not ripe for dismissal due to the fact that claim construction had not yet occurred. In this instance, however, Judge Payne agreed with Drive DeVilbiss’ argument, that claim construction was not necessary because the claims in the My Health patent were so similar to the claims in a recent patent infringement lawsuit that had been dismissed under Alice, and therefore granted Drive DeVilbiss’ motion. Judge Payne later adopted the same argument and dismissed the remaining defendants on Feb. 21, 2017.
Posted April 18, 2017