By Memorandum Opinion entered by The Honorable Sue L. Robinson in Solvay, S.A. v. Honeywell Specialty Materials LLC, et al., Civil Action No. 06-557-SLR (D.Del., August 26, 2011), the Court granted defendant Honeywell’s motion for summary judgment of no willful infringement. The Court concluded that summary judgment of no willfulness was appropriate “because Honeywell presented a credible invalidity defense, precluding a finding of objective reasonableness despite the Federal Circuit’s ultimate rejection of the defense.” Id. at 13. In other words, despite the Federal Circuit’s reversal of the district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of Honeywell on invalidity, the prior summary judgment ruling itself was enough to prevent the establishment of the objective prong of the willfulness standard. Id. at 10-13. The Court also denied Honeywell’s renewed motion for summary judgment of invalidity pursuant to 35 U.S.C. § 102(g) after finding that there are genuine issues of material fact as to whether Honeywell, as the party alleging prior invention, abandoned, suppressed or concealed the invention. Id. at 9-10.
A complete copy of the Court’s Opinion is attached.