Rule 11 in patent law: McDermott, Will & Emery (and Medtronic) whacked

Dan Slater writes:

Earlier this year, in the span of two weeks, two different teams of outside litigators representing Medtronic in two different patent trials, heard in two different jurisdictions, were both fined attorneys fees. On Tuesday, U.S. District of Colorado Judge Richard Matsch (pictured) put a price tag on those sanctions for one of the teams: McDermott, Will & Emery (and Medtronic) must cough of up $4.3 million. Here’s a report from the Recorder.

The common offense, if you remember, was a big no-no in the patent world: The lawyers were found to have argued outside the “claim construction” as determined by the “Markman hearings” in the cases. (In the second case, in Massachusetts, Medtronic and their Dewey & LeBeouf lawyers were hit with a $10 million sanction.) What’s the heck is a “Markman hearing”? It’s held prior to a patent trial to in essence identify the parameters of the supposedly infringed patent. This takes that determination away from the jury, and defines what the claims mean as a matter of law.