Yesterday, a federal jury handed One LLP and its client Polara Engineering a complete victory in its long-running patent infringement lawsuit against Polara’s competitor Campbell Company. The patent at issue related to accessible pedestrian crosswalk systems, which are specially designed systems that provide multiple audible, visual, and vibro-tactile indications to allow pedestrians – including those having visual or hearing impairments – to safely navigate pedestrian crosswalks. The lawsuit had been pending for over three years prior to the 9-day jury trial in Orange County Federal District Court. After closing arguments, the jury spent less than a day deliberating before returning its verdict, rejecting each of Campbell’s invalidity challenges, which included anticipation, obviousness, and prior use defenses. The jury also rejected Campbell’s enforceability defense based on alleged inequitable conduct. For Polara, the jury agreed that Campbell’s infringement of the Polara patent was indeed willful and awarded Polara the full measure of its claimed reasonable royalty damages.
One LLP partners Nate Dilger and Chris Arledge were trial counsel for Polara. The case is captioned Polara Engineering, Inc. v. Campbell Company, Case No.: SACV 13-00007 DFM.
