Judge Sue Robinson has ordered a patent infringement defendant to reimburse plaintiff’s attorney fees of $23,658 in connection with plaintiff having to respond to defendant’s post-trial briefing on inequitable conduct. See Asahi Glass Co. v. Guardian Indus. Corp., C.A. No. 09-515-SLR, Memorandum Order at 1 (D. Del. Mar. 11, 2013). Judge Robinson previously found that defendant’s theories of inequitable conduct “were either devoid of merit or procedurally barred” and ordered defendant to pay plaintiffs’ reasonable costs in preparing and filing their responsive brief on inequitable conduct. The parties were, however, unable to agree on the amount of plaintiffs’ fees for which defendant was responsible. Id. at 1-2.
Judge Robinson found that a “detailed and reliable reconstruction of time spent” was acceptable to support the request for 20 hours of partner attorney time on the responsive brief. She also found that because only 30.2 hours of associate time were evidenced by client invoices and there was no similar reconstruction of time, only 30.2 hours were allowable as costs, not the 40 requested by plaintiffs. Id. at 4-7. Finally, Judge Robinson found that both the amount of time spent on the brief and the hourly rates charged were reasonable in light of the length of the briefing in question, the importance and high stakes of the issue being briefed, and the prevailing market rates for intellectual property attorneys. Id. at 7-8. Because the defendant demonstrated no sufficient justification for reducing the award, Judge Robinson granted the requested partner, associate, and paralegal fees.
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