International law firm Dorsey & Whitney LLP announced that it has successfully defended a false patent marking claim made against its client Manhattan Group LLC. The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas dismissed with prejudice a suit by North Texas Patent Group (NTPG). At issue in the case were patent marks placed on toy wooden cars designed by co-defendant Automoblox Company, LLC which holds a patent for the toy cars. Manhattan sells the cars under license from Automoblox.
NTPG had alleged that the patent did not apply to every product marked. Applying the Federal Circuit’s recent decision in In re BP Lubricants USA which requires a plaintiff to meet a heightened pleading standard, the Court ruled that NTPG failed to assert particularized facts demonstrating that either Automoblox or Manhattan acted for the purpose of deceiving the public, a key component of a false patent marking claim.
Dorsey’s team was led by partner Tom Vitt and associate Dustin Adams.
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