Gary M. Ropski

Patent Litigation

• At claim construction, obtained an indefiniteness invalidity ruling regarding two nonce, generic terms lacking support in the patent specification, which the Federal Circuit unanimously affirmed.
• Affirmance of two summary judgments granted for defendants in Austin, Texas with minimal discovery expense. The plaintiff had been trying unsuccessfully to get the court to rule that electronic encyclopedia patents also covered automobile and hand-held navigation systems.
• Settlement of an ITC proceeding and district court action in Los Angeles relating to 14 aviation-related patents asserted to cover automobile and hand-held navigation systems.
• Obtained a preliminary injunction in Madison, Wisconsin to enforce two patents on lithium iron disulfide batteries.
• Successfully defended German and U.S. companies in ITC proceedings in Washington, DC and district court actions in Detroit, alleging infringement of 11 patents relating to automated mechanical transmissions, including summary judgment for the defendant companies on several patents and a jury verdict of non-infringement and invalidity on the remaining patents. Also obtained the first known positive advisory opinion and enforcement proceeding result from the ITC for a respondent who redesigned a product.
• Settlement of a four-patent lawsuit in Los Angeles involving web-enabled controllers after various summary judgment motions in favor of our client.
• Settlement of a patent infringement lawsuit for an electronic futures trading system a month before trial in Dallas, involving the leading futures exchanges in the country, permitting our client to continue its activities for a payment of less than 5% of the damages sought by plaintiffs.
• Obtained dismissal of a district court case in Chicago in which the plaintiff alleged breach of contract as well as trade secret and copyright infringement regarding health insurance computer software for debugging computer programs, based on untimely submission of the claims and failure to protect trade secrets.
• Defeated preliminary injunction motion in Atlanta for a plastic molding machine equipment patent based, in part, on the “repair vs. reconstruction” doctrine.
• Obtained consent judgments in Rockford, Illinois against nine companies infringing patents for parallel port peripheral products for use with a personal computer.
• Obtained summary judgment in Newark holding noninfringement of a patent for low-fat cheese asserted against four of the largest U.S. cheese manufacturers; affirmed on appeal.
• Won a trial in Washington, DC holding a patent invalid and non-infringed for our Swiss client, which was affirmed without opinion one week after oral argument on appeal.
• Protected our client in Greeneville, Tennessee by limiting a trial judgment to less than 15% of the amount sought by the patentee relating to a furnace used in making fused silica.
• Completed an ITC proceeding within a year of patent issuance with permanent injunctions against two respondents and favorable settlements against the others for a patent relating to SIMM memory modules.
• Obtained judgment of inequitable conduct after a two-week bench trial in Delaware on a patent asserted against several large machine tool manufacturers relating to flexible manufacturing systems—inequitable conduct affirmed on appeal.
• Obtained a summary judgment in San Francisco of non-infringement of a patent for air conveyors, based on the reverse doctrine of equivalents even though literal infringement was found on some claims.

Trademark and Copyright Litigation

• Successfully stopped infringement of the famous design trademark, service mark and trade dress for the RUBIK’s CUBE puzzle design in district court and at the U.S. Border Patrol (Customs) in Washington, DC.
• Obtained summary judgment dismissing all counts of copyright and trade secret infringement and breach of contract for computer software for debugging computer programs used in the insurance industry.
• Won an appeal in the Ninth Circuit affirming our client’s fair use of alleged trade dress in a heart-shaped cut-out in a metal figurine on issues of decorativeness, functionality and ornamental, non-trademark use.
• Settled a case between major competitors relating to trade dress in the shape of the head of a cable tie and a related trademark.
• Obtained a consent judgment after successful summary judgment motions thwarted a significant competitor’s product comparisons involving false statements about our client’s trucks.
• Received summary judgment eliminating defendant’s defenses of fair use, priority, laches and estoppel in a trademark lawsuit relating to fire trucks and heavy duty trucks.
• Prevented our client’s competitor from using a NASDAQ trading symbol identical to the trademark of our client.
• Settled a right of publicity and trademark lawsuit permitting our client to continue to use the name EAMES for furniture.
• Established the rule in the Seventh Circuit that a first-filed declaratory judgment action does not take precedence when it merely anticipates an assertive action filed for trademark infringement.
• Developed a courthouse-steps settlement just prior to a judge announcing his decision on a preliminary injunction motion.  A non-competitive business had been seeking to prevent our client from using its new trademark based on reverse confusion.
• Obtained denial of a preliminary injunction against our client on a false advertising claim for “five full ounces of milk in every slice.”
• Argued one of the first cases in the Federal Circuit, which affirmed a TTAB decision awarding priority and deciding likelihood of confusion in favor of our client.