In a recent order, Judge Leonard P. Stark denied both (1) defendant’s motion to dismiss plaintiff’s claims of direct and indirect patent infringement for failure to state a claim and (2) plaintiff’s motion to dismiss defendant’s declaratory judgments of non-infringement and invalidity for failure to state a claim. Cronos Technologies LLC v. Vitamin Shoppe, Inc., C.A. No. 12-444-LPS (D. Del. Mar. 29, 2013). Although plaintiff amended its complaint and defendant amended its answer subsequent to the filing of the motions to dismiss, Judge Stark considered the motions to the extent they were not rendered moot. See id. at 2. Denying defendant’s motion for failure to state a claim, Judge Stark found that plaintiff’s direct infringement claim “satisfi[ed] the requirements of Form 18,” and that plaintiff’s complaint provided facts with respect to “knowledge, intent and direct infringement” to sufficiently plead induced infringement. Id. Defendant argued that plaintiff’s asserted method claims should be dismissed because plaintiff did not allege that a single entity performed all of the elements. Judge Stark found, however, that plaintiff’s patent included “both apparatus and method claims,” and that plaintiff was “not required to identify any specific asserted claim in the Amended Complaint.” Id. Turning to plaintiff’s motion to dismiss, Judge Stark first found that defendant “specifically identif[ied] non-infringing products” in its amended complaint and therefore sufficiently pled its non-infringement declaratory judgment. Id. Moreover, Judge Stark found that defendant sufficiently pled its declaratory judgment for invalidity, including “specific references to prior art, statutes, and legal principles” in its amended complaint. Id.
Cronos Technologies LLC v. Vitamin Shoppe, Inc., C.A. No. 12-444-LPS (D. Del. Mar. 29, 2013)
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