Foley Wins Two Federal Circuit Appeals for Vibrant Media; Underlying District Court Case Dismissed

On December 17, 2015 and January 5, 2016, Foley secured complete victories on appeal in two patent disputes at the Federal Circuit on behalf of Vibrant Media, Inc., which was followed by a stipulation of dismissal of the underlying patent litigation on January 19, 2016. Foley partner, Matthew Lowrie argued the cases.

The dispute concerned two patents related to inserting and updating hypertext links in web pages. General Electric had acquired the patents through a series of corporate transactions and asserted them in an infringement suit that it filed against Vibrant Media in the District of Delaware. In response, Vibrant Media filed two petitions for inter partes review (IPR) at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) and, after the petitions were granted, secured a stay of the underlying litigation. Vibrant then secured a complete win at trial on both IPRs. GE appealed the decision, and the Federal Circuit held a consolidated argument on December 10th.

The Federal Circuit affirmed the PTAB’s holdings that the patents were not patentable in their entirety, and then following that decision, the parties filed a stipulation of dismissal of the underlying Delaware district court litigation on January 19, which was granted, marking this a total victory for Vibrant Media.

The Vibrant Media team was led by Foley partner Matthew Lowrie and included partners Christopher McKenna and Kevin Littman, and associate Paul Pua.