At that time, the Court granted all of Color Kinetics' motions for summary judgment against Super Vision. The Court found that all five of Color Kinetics' asserted patents are valid, that each of five Super Vision product lines infringe those patents, and that Color Kinetics did not engage in misconduct before the US Patent and Trademark Office.
The award to Color Kinetics, pending documentation of the costs and fees, is estimated at approximately $1.4 million.
Download a copy of the Court order (PDF, 50 KB)
The Court order describes how Color Kinetics moved for attorneys' fees on the "unusual grounds" that it waive its claims to damages and willful infringement.
Super Vision immediately announced it intends to appeal the award of legal costs and fees, and at the same time appeal the infringement summary judgment issued in August 2005.
"Just as we stated back in August, we feel strongly that there are numerous material facts and matters of law and that when presented to the appellate level court, the summary judgment and subsequent awarding of legal fees and costs will be overturned," said Mike Bauer, President/CEO of Super Vision. "There is still a long way to go in the process and we believe that Super Vision will ultimately prevail."
However, Color Kinetics is satisfied with the outcome. "We are very pleased with the Court's decision, as the order provides satisfying vindication for Super Vision's behavior over the past four years," said Bill Sims, President and CEO, Color Kinetics.
As in previous rulings the judge was unequivocal in support of Color Kinetics. The Judge's ruling reads, "I conclude without hesitation that this case is 'exceptional,' and that Super Vision has perpetrated a 'gross injustice' by its egregious abuses of the discovery phase and vexatious litigation strategy. An award of attorneys' fees is appropriate to remedy the 'gross injustice' Color Kinetics has suffered at the hands of Super Vision's vexatious and bad faith litigation." [For those without a dictionary, "egregious" means "outstandingly bad" and "vexatious" means "annoying".]
As a result of this decision, Color Kinetics will now request the Court to issue a permanent injunction prohibiting further infringement of the asserted patents.
Super Vision recently revived the legal dispute with Color Kinetics by filing a lawsuit alleging infringement by against a patent owned by Super Vision (see Super Vision files new patent lawsuit against Color Kinetics (Apr 06)).
