On September 4, 2014, the Federal Circuit remanded a case to the district court to reconsider an attorney fees award in light of the Supreme Court’s recent decisions in Octane Fitness LLC v. Icon Health & Fitness Inc. and Highmark Inc. v. Allcare Health Management System Inc. Checkpoint Systems, Inc. sued AllTag Security S.A. in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, alleging infringement of U.S. Patent Number 4,876,555, covering security tag products. After a jury found that Checkpoint’s patent claims are invalid, the district court awarded $6.6 million in attorney fees to AllTag. The district court found that Checkpoint’s case was exceptional because the company’s expert witness did not inspect the tags it accused of infringement. The Federal Circuit rejected that argument. On appeal, the Supreme Court vacated the Federal Circuit’s decision in light of the Octane Fitness and Highmark decisions, which lowered the burden for proving a case exceptional and changed the standard of review on appeal. On remand from the Supreme Court, the Federal Circuit asked the district court to reconsider the award in view of the less stringent standard for awarding attorney fees.
Checkpoint Systems Inc. v. AllTag Security S.A., No. 20121085 (Fed. Cir., September 5, 2014).