In a recent memorandum opinion, Judge Leonard P. Stark granted a motion for summary judgment that pre-2004 versions of Microsoft Windows do not infringe various patents asserted by the plaintiff. St. Clair Intellectual Property Consultants, Inc. v. Acer, Inc., et al., Consol. C.A. No. 09-354-LPS (D. Del. Mar. 29, 2013). The plaintiff had neither responded to interrogatories relating to pre-2004 Windows, nor provided the defendants with contentions on how pre-2004 Windows infringe. Id. at 4. Further, the plaintiff provided no competing expert testimony in response to the defendants’ expert, who opined that pre-2004 versions of Windows do not infringe. Id. at 5. Because the plaintiff carried the burden of proving infringement, and it “failed to present any evidence of infringement related to pre-2004 versions of Windows[,]” the Court granted the motion for summary judgment of non-infringement, and found further that pre-2004 versions of Windows could appropriately be considered non-infringing alternatives. Id. at 5-6 (emphasis in original).
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