(February 3, 2005. Manchester, NH.) - Reversing a finding of patent infringement on grounds of "clear error," the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with arguments of Attorney Ed Haffer, an intellectual-property and business litigator at Sheehan Phinney Bass + Green. The case was Centricut, LLC v. ESAB Group, Inc., 2004 U.S. App. LEXIS 24977, and Ed represented Centricut, the accused infringer.
The Court held: "[I]n a case involving complex technology, where the accused infringer offers expert testimony negating infringement, the patentee cannot satisfy its burden of proof by relying only on testimony from those not expert in the field. That is what happened here, and the patentee thus failed to meet its burden of proof. This case stands as an apt example of what may befall a patent law plaintiff who presents complex subject matter without inputs from experts qualified on the relevant points in issue when the accused infringer has negated infringement with its own expert."
Co-counsel with Ed were Mike Bujold and Neal Friedman of Davis & Bujold.
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