News & Events

Simpson Thacher’s litigation victory in Eon Corp. vs. AT&T Mobility was recognized by The American Lawyer in its July 2015 “Big Suits” column. Litigation Partner Buzz Frahn led the Simpson Thacher team in arguing the appeal on behalf of Qualcomm Inc., its subsidiary FLO TV, and six other defendants that were sued by Eon Corp, a patent holding company, for allegedly infringing a patent related to interactive TV. Early in the case, we identified a defect in the patent claims that would render every one of the patent claims invalid and provide a complete defense for all of the defendants. We spearheaded the effort across all the defendants to develop this defense, including deposing the key witness, briefing the issue on summary judgment, leading an evidentiary hearing, and arguing the matter before the court.  These efforts resulted in the district court granting our summary judgment motion to invalidate the patent on March 5, 2014. We continued to take the leading role in briefing and arguing this matter on appeal, for which oral arguments were held February 2, 2015. The Federal Circuit affirmed the district court’s grant of summary judgment of invalidity in a 3-0 decision, noting all claims of the ‘757 patent are invalid for indefiniteness, marking a win for Simpson Thacher on behalf of Qualcomm.

The American Lawyer noted that the recent Federal Circuit decision “may have just closed the door on many vaguely worded software patents.” To read the full article, please click here (subscription required).

The Simpson Thacher team included Buzz Frahn (who led the argument), Jeff Ostrow, Patrick King, Victor Cole and Jeff Danley.