throbber

`UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`BEFORE THE PATENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`FINISAR CORPORATION
`Petitioner
`
`v.
`
`THOMAS SWAN & CO., LTD.
`Patent Owner
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`Case IPR2014-00461
`Patent 7,664,395
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`JOINT MOTION TO TERMINATE PROCEEDING UNDER 35 U.S.C. § 317
`

`
`1 
`
`

`

`Joint Motion to Terminate Proceeding
`Case: IPR2014-00461
`
`
`Pursuant to 35 U.S.C. § 317(a), the Patent Owner Thomas Swan & Co. Ltd.
`
`
`
`
`and Petitioner Finisar Corp. (collectively “Parties”) hereby jointly move for an
`
`order terminating the inter partes review, subject to the terms of the Settlement
`
`Agreement, dated October 21, 2014, entered into by the Parties.
`
`The IPR Proceeding relates to a petition for inter partes review filed
`
`February 26, 2014, directed to Patent No. 7,664,395 (the “’395 Patent”), and
`
`assigned case number IPR2014-00461. Patent Owner filed a Preliminary Response
`
`on June 6, 2014. (Paper No. 8.) The PTAB instituted trial on August 21, 2014.
`
`(Paper No. 9.)
`
`The Parties have settled their dispute, and have reached agreement to
`
`terminate this IPR Proceeding. The Parties’ Settlement Agreement has been made
`
`in writing, and a true copy of same is being filed concurrently herewith as an
`
`Exhibit.
`
`In addition, the Parties desire that the Settlement Agreement be maintained
`
`as business confidential information under 37 C.F.R. § 42.74(c), and a separate
`
`joint request to that effect is being filed concurrently herewith.
`
`As stated in 35 U.S.C. § 317(a), because Petitioner and Patent Owner jointly
`
`request this termination, no estoppel under 35 U.S.C. § 315(e) shall attach to
`
`Petitioner.
`

`
`1 
`
`

`

`1. Reasons Why Termination Is Appropriate.
`
`Joint Motion to Terminate Proceeding
`Case: IPR2014-00461
`
`
`
`Termination is proper under 35 U.S.C. § 317(a) because the Parties are
`
`jointly requesting termination, and the Office has not yet “decided the merits of the
`
`proceeding before the request for termination is filed.” Indeed, it is far too early in
`
`this IPR Proceeding for any decision on the merits. Patent Owner’s Response to
`
`the Petition and Institution Decision has not yet been filed, and is not due until
`
`December 24, 2014 under the current Scheduling Order, as modified by a joint
`
`stipulation by the parties. (Paper Nos. 10 and 11.) Moreover, Patent Owner has not
`
`yet cross-examined Petitioner’s expert declarant, Dr. Katherine Hall.
`
`As noted in the Patent Office Trial Practice Guidelines, “there are strong
`
`public policy reasons to favor settlement between the parties to a proceeding . . . .
`
`The Board expects that a proceeding will terminate after the filing of a settlement
`
`agreement, unless the Board has already decided the merits of the proceeding. 35
`
`U.S.C. 317(a), as amended, and 35 U.S.C. 327.”1 Accordingly, termination is
`
`appropriate here.
`
`2.
`
`Status of Related District Court Litigation.
`
`The ’395 Patent is the subject of the following pending litigation: Thomas
`
`Swan & Co. Ltd. v. Finisar Corp., et al., No. 2:13-cv-178 (E.D. Tex.). The
`
`                                                            
`1 See Federal Register Vol. 77, No. 157 at 48768.
`2 
`

`
`

`

`defendants in that case are Petitioner Finisar Corp. and its customer Fujitsu
`
`Joint Motion to Terminate Proceeding
`Case: IPR2014-00461
`
`
`
`Communications, Inc. (“FNC”)2 (collectively, “Defendants”).
`
`On September 12, 2014, the Parties notified the District Court that the
`
`Parties and FNC had reached an agreement that settles in principle all matters in
`
`controversy between them and jointly requested a stay of the case (and any and all
`
`attendant deadlines) for thirty (30) days to allow settlement obligations to be met.
`
`Such obligations include the drafting and executing a final written settlement
`
`agreement.
`
`Consistent therewith, pursuant to the Settlement Agreement, the Parties and
`
`FNC have filed with the District Court a stipulated motion and proposed order
`
`dismissing with prejudice all claims and counterclaims pending between Thomas
`
`Swan & Co. Ltd. and Defendants in that case on October 23, 2014.
`
`                                                            
`2 On August 26, 2014, FNC filed a separate petition for inter partes review for the
`
`’395 Patent, which was assigned Case No. IPR2014-01384. Pursuant to the
`
`Settlement Agreement, Thomas Swan and FNC shall submit a joint motion to
`
`terminate this proceeding as well.
`
`3 
`

`
`

`

`Joint Motion to Terminate Proceeding
`Case: IPR2014-00461
`
`
`
`
`
`3.
`
`Related IPR Proceedings
`
`The Parties are also involved in the following IPR proceedings, and pursuant
`
`to the Settlement Agreement, shall submit a joint motion to terminate each of these
`
`proceedings as well:3
`
`Case No.
`
`Filing Date
`
`Subject Patent
`
`IPR2014-00460
`
`February 26, 2014
`
`US 7,145,710
`
`IPR2014-00462
`
`February 26, 2014
`
`US 8,089,683
`
`IPR2014-00465
`
`February 26, 2014
`
`US 8,335,033
`
`
`
`                                                            
`3 On August 26, 2014, FNC also filed petitions for inter-partes review for these
`
`same patents, and the petitions have been assigned the following case numbers:
`
`IPR2014-01383, IPR2014-01382, and IPR2014-01381, respectively. Pursuant to
`
`the Settlement Agreement, Thomas Swan and FNC shall submit a joint motion to
`
`terminate each of these proceedings as well.
`
`4 
`

`
`

`

`Joint Motion to Terminate Proceeding
`Case: IPR2014-00461
`
`
`
`For the foregoing reasons, the Parties jointly request termination of IPR No.
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`Respectfully submitted,
`
`/David Radulescu Reg. No. 36,250/
`David Radulescu
`Reg. No. 36,250, for
`For Petitioner, Finisar Corporation
`
`/Marc M. Wefers Reg. No. 56,842/
`Marc M. Wefers,
`Reg. No. 56,842, for
`Patent Owner, Thomas Swan & Co. Ltd.
`
`IPR2014-00461.
`
`
`
`
`Date: October 28, 2014
`
`
`
`
`
`Date: October 28, 2014
`
`
`
`
`Customer Number 26171
`Fish & Richardson P.C.
`Telephone: (612) 337-2569
`
`
`
`

`
`5 
`
`

`


`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
`
`____________
`
`BEFORE THE PATENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD
`____________
`
`FINISAR CORP.
`Petitioner
`
`v.
`
`THOMAS SWAN & CO. LTD.
`Patent Owner
`____________
`
`Case IPR2014-00461
`Patent 7,664,395
`____________
`
`
`JOINT REQUEST TO FILE SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT AS BUSINESS
`CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION PURSUANT TO 35 U.S.C. § 317
`
`

`

`
`

`

`Case IPR2014-00461
`Attorney Docket No: 28733-0003IP1
`
`
`
`
`
`Pursuant to 35 U.S.C. § 317(b) and 37 C.F.R. § 42.74(c), Patent Owner
`
`Thomas Swan & Co. Ltd. and Finisar Corp. (collectively, “Parties”) jointly request
`
`to file the Settlement Agreement, including the entirety of the Exhibit to the Joint
`
`Motion To Terminate Proceeding, as business confidential information, which
`
`shall be kept separate from the file of the involved patents.
`
`
`
`
`
`
`Date: October 28, 2014
`
`
`
`
`
`Date: October 28, 2014
`
`
`
`
`Customer Number 26171
`Fish & Richardson P.C.
`Telephone: (612) 337-2508
`Facsimile: (612) 288-9696
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`Respectfully submitted,
`
`/David Radulescu Reg. No. 36,250/
`David Radulescu
`Reg. No. 36,250, for
`Petitioner, Finisar Corporation
`
` /Marc M. Wefers Reg. No. 56,842/
`Marc M. Wefers
`Reg. No. 56,842, for
`Patent Owner, Thomas Swan & Co. Ltd.
`
`
`2
`
`

`

`Case IPR2014-00461
`Attorney Docket No: 28733-0003IP1
`CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE
`Pursuant to 37 CFR §§ 42.6(e)(1) and 42.6(e)(4)(iii), the undersigned
`certifies that on October 29, 2014, a complete and entire copy of:
`JOINT MOTION TO TERMINATE PROCEEDING UNDER
`35 U.S.C. § 317
`
`JOINT REQUEST TO FILE SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT AS BUSINESS
`CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION PURSUANT TO 35 U.S.C. § 317
`
`were provided via email, to Petitioner by serving the email correspondence
`addresses of record as follows:
`
`David Radulescu
`Greg Maskel
`Radulescu LLP
`136 Madison Avenue, 6th Floor
`New York, NY 10016
`
`Kurt Rauschenbach
`Rauschenbach Patent Law Group
`P.O. Box 849
`Franconia, NH 03580
`
`Email: david@radulescullp.com
`Email: greg@radulescullp.com
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`/Edward G. Faeth/
`
`Edward G. Faeth
`Fish & Richardson P.C.
`60 South Sixth Street, Suite 3200
`Minneapolis, MN 55402
`(202) 626-6420
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`3
`
`

This document is available on Docket Alarm but you must sign up to view it.


Or .

Accessing this document will incur an additional charge of $.

After purchase, you can access this document again without charge.

Accept $ Charge
throbber

Still Working On It

This document is taking longer than usual to download. This can happen if we need to contact the court directly to obtain the document and their servers are running slowly.

Give it another minute or two to complete, and then try the refresh button.

throbber

A few More Minutes ... Still Working

It can take up to 5 minutes for us to download a document if the court servers are running slowly.

Thank you for your continued patience.

This document could not be displayed.

We could not find this document within its docket. Please go back to the docket page and check the link. If that does not work, go back to the docket and refresh it to pull the newest information.

Your account does not support viewing this document.

You need a Paid Account to view this document. Click here to change your account type.

Your account does not support viewing this document.

Set your membership status to view this document.

With a Docket Alarm membership, you'll get a whole lot more, including:

  • Up-to-date information for this case.
  • Email alerts whenever there is an update.
  • Full text search for other cases.
  • Get email alerts whenever a new case matches your search.

Become a Member

One Moment Please

The filing “” is large (MB) and is being downloaded.

Please refresh this page in a few minutes to see if the filing has been downloaded. The filing will also be emailed to you when the download completes.

Your document is on its way!

If you do not receive the document in five minutes, contact support at support@docketalarm.com.

Sealed Document

We are unable to display this document, it may be under a court ordered seal.

If you have proper credentials to access the file, you may proceed directly to the court's system using your government issued username and password.


Access Government Site

We are redirecting you
to a mobile optimized page.





Document Unreadable or Corrupt

Refresh this Document
Go to the Docket

We are unable to display this document.

Refresh this Document
Go to the Docket