Patent Litigation Weekly: Honeywell's IP Strategy Foiled in East Texas
By Andrew Longstreth
June 29, 2009
When it comes to trolls, corporate America certainly talks the talk. But does it always walk the walk? The question is addressed by Joe Mullin of IP Law & Business in his latest installment of Patent Litigation Weekly. Mullin notes that in recent years, Goliaths like General Electric have set up holding companies to assert patents against players in industries they've left behind. It's the kind of trolling tactic that many major companies have decried.Honeywell International, Mullin reports, is one of those companies trying to monetize IP that is not part of its operating divisions. Back in 2006 a Honeywell subsidiary called Honeywell Intellectual Property International asserted patent infringement against eight LCD panel manufacturers in the Eastern District of Texas. Mullin reports that the patent at issue, which Honeywell applied for in 1991, is related to an outdated LCD technology. Nonetheless, seven of the eight defendants have settled.
The lone holdout is a Taiwanese company called Novatek, which won a summary judgement motion of noninfringment earlier this month. Ted Herhold, a Townsend and Townsend and Crew partner representing Novatek, criticized what he saw as an effort by Honeywell to have it both ways when it comes to trolling.
"They're trying to have their cake and eat it too," Herhold told Mullin. "They want to be a large, well-respected corporate citizen, and at the same time, they're acting like the patent troll holding up corporate America. They're on both sides of the toll bridge."
Herhold told Mullin that Honeywell had asked for $15-20 million before filing the suit, which caught Novatek off guard and made it a bit nervous. "Being a Taiwanese semiconductor manufacturer up against an American household name, in Texas, was very disconcerting to them," Herhold said.
The decision to fight has worked out. At least, so far. HIPI, which did not return calls to Mullin, has appealed the summary judgment decision.
