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plaintifflitigationmotionpatentcase law
plaintifflitigationmotionpatent

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Bard Peripheral Vascular, Inc. v. W.L. Gore & Associates, Inc., Not Reported in F.Supp.2d, 2007 WL 3274093

Facts

On October 22, 2007, Plaintiffs Bard Peripheral Vascular, Inc. and Dr. David Goldfarb filed a Motion for Reconsideration regarding a prior ruling that granted W.L. Gore & Associates' Motion in Limine. The Court had ruled that Plaintiffs were bound by their admissions about the Matsumoto prior art made during previous Patent Office proceedings. Plaintiffs argued that the doctrine of judicial estoppel should not apply to bind them to losing arguments made to the Patent Office. Gore contended that Plaintiffs failed to distinguish relevant case law supporting the binding nature of their prior admissions.

Issue

Whether the doctrine of judicial estoppel binds Plaintiffs to their prior admissions regarding the Matsumoto prior art made during Patent Office proceedings.

Whether the doctrine of judicial estoppel binds Plaintiffs to their prior admissions regarding the Matsumoto prior art made during Patent Office proceedings.

Rule

Judicial estoppel prevents a party from asserting a position in litigation that is inconsistent with a prior position. A party is judicially estopped only if the current position is incompatible with an earlier one. The doctrine applies to prevent a party from gaining an advantage by taking contradictory positions in different stages of litigation.

A party is judicially estopped from asserting a position in the course of litigation only if that position is inconsistent or incompatible with an earlier position.

Analysis

The Court analyzed whether Plaintiffs' previous admissions to the Patent Office should bind them in this case. It noted that the prior admissions were made during inter partes proceedings, which were not adopted by the Patent Office when granting the patent. The Court found that binding Plaintiffs to losing arguments would contradict public policy, as it would undermine the validity of the patent that was ultimately issued. Therefore, the Court concluded that the prior admissions did not warrant judicial estoppel.

The Court finds it appropriate to reconsider its previous ruling and hereby finds that Plaintiffs are not bound to their previous losing arguments before the PTO.

Conclusion

The Court granted Bard's Motion for Reconsideration, concluding that Plaintiffs are not bound by their previous losing arguments made to the Patent Office.

Accordingly, IT IS ORDERED granting Bard's Motion for Reconsideration (Doc. 594).

Who won?

Bard Peripheral Vascular, Inc. prevailed in this motion for reconsideration. The Court found that binding Plaintiffs to their previous losing arguments would contradict public policy, particularly since the Patent Office did not adopt those arguments when granting the patent. The Court emphasized the importance of upholding patents issued by the United States Patent Office and determined that the doctrine of judicial estoppel should not apply in this instance.

Bard Peripheral Vascular, Inc. prevailed in this motion for reconsideration. The Court emphasized that binding Plaintiffs to losing arguments made to the PTO would contradict public policy, particularly since the Patent Office did not adopt those arguments when granting the patent.

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