Marshall Feature Recognition, LLC v. Wendy’s Int’l, Inc., No. 14 C 865, Slip Op. (N.D. Ill. Mar. 4, 2015) (Coleman, J.).
Judge Coleman denied Wendy’s Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss plaintiff Marshall Feature Recognition’s (“MFR”) patent complaint accusing QR codes. The Court earlier denied MFR’s motion to amend its complaint to respond to arguments raised in Wendy’s motion because of MFR’s delay in responding to the motion and because the amendment would have prejudiced Wendy’s. MFR met the pleading requirements as demonstrated by Form 18, alleging that – that the Court has jurisdiction, that MFR owns the patent in suit by assignment, MFR claims that Wendy’s infringes by, among other things, directing others to use QR codes, that Wendy’s was aware of its infringement, and that MFR demands damages and an injunction. Wendy’s argued that it MFR had not, and could not, sufficiently plead infringement because Wendy’s did not make, use or sell the claimed feature recognition unit. The Court held that MFR’s allegation that Wendy’s used the accused QR codes was sufficient to make a claim for testing or demonstration of the QR codes. Finally, while MFR’s indirect infringement allegations were not detailed, MFR sufficiently pled that Wendy’s knew of the patent in suit, and that Wendy’s induced others to use the QR codes in an infringing manner.