Announcement

Milbank's DC Litigation Team Wins an Important Victory For Its Client Fisher-Price

Milbank's DC litigation team won an important victory for its client Fisher-Price on Friday, November 4, 2005, when the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit reversed a lower court's judgment invalidating Fisher-Price's patent for a portable, fold-up infant swing that has captured a large share of the baby products market. Fisher-Price had sued Graco Children's Products for infringing the patent, but the federal district court in Philadelphia held the patent invalid in violation of the statutory definiteness requirement because the court was unable to determine the meaning of the claims. On appeal, the Federal Circuit agreed with Fisher-Price that the patent claims were not indefinite and that the district court should have been able to construe the claims because "the technology in the invention of the patent is not complex; it is readily understood by the expert and the layperson." The Federal Circuit reversed and remanded the case with instructions to the district court to construe the claims and permit Fisher-Price's infringement case to continue.

The Milbank team representing Fisher-Price was led by Of Counsel Jay Alexander with partner William E. Wallace and legal assistant Shannon Freshour.