Top Defense Results: Corning Optical Communications Wireless Ltd. v. Solid Inc. et al.

Patent Infringement

Northern District

U.S. Magistrate Judge Paul S. Grewal

Defense attorneys: Jones Day, S. Christian Platt, Tharan Gregory Lanier, Yeah-Sil Moon, Ognian Shentov, Matthew Silveira, Jacqueline K. S. Lee, Kathleen Lynott, Tonny Lee, Sarah Bennington, Walter Dekalb Kelley Jr., Tara Lynn Renee Zurawski

Plaintiff's attorneys: Barnes & Thornburg LLP, Paul Hunt, Chad S.C. Stover, Joshua Larsen, Christine Hoeft McCarthy, Stephen Roy Mick; Morrison & Foerster LLP, Rachel Krevans, Nathaniel Sabri

Copycat. It's not a legal term.

But it was a hurdle a team of Jones Day lawyers had to clear to convince jurors that a stereotype of Asian companies knocking off American companies' ideas just wasn't the case in Corning Optical Communications Wireless Ltd. v. Solid Inc. et al., 14-CV03750 (N.D. Cal. filed Aug. 20, 2014).

The firm's South Korean client Solid Inc. was proud of its more than a decade of innovation in the distributed antenna system (DAS) field - a fancy way of saying antennae hooked up to fiber optic lines distributed to network hubs in densely populated areas like cities and ballparks.

It allows fans at AT&T Park to text or send emails or post photos to social media while at packed games.

Corning sued Solid and the distributor company Reach Holdings LLC in a patent infringement case that went to trial in October before U.S. Magistrate Judge Paul S. Grewal in San Jose.

The jury deliberated for just two and a half hours before rejecting Corning's infringement claims and finding in favor of Solid. Corning had been seeking $37 million in damages - and to have those damages tripled.

But Jones Day lead counsel S. Christian Platt and Tharan Gregory Lanier decided to forgo presenting a technical case and instead trusted the jury to see the passion and pride Solid executives brought to creating the Alliance DAS. Ultimately, it was successful in the seven-day trial.

"What we did was give the jury credit for being thoughtful people who wanted to learn about the products," Lanier said.

When lawyers wheeled in the antenna system during testimony in Korean by company executives, their excitement and pride from the witness box did not need translation.

"We wanted to emphasize how cool the product is and how proud the people who manufactured it were," Platt said.

The Solid system allowed for public safety calls.

"That, of course, became a priority after the Sept. 11 attacks when people inside the Twin Towers couldn't talk to each other," Platt said.

Corning Wireless, an Israeli company, is a division of Corning Inc., a 160-year-old company based in Corning, New York that has long been a pioneer in glass and glass-derived products - like fiber optics. One of its two patents was dismissed by Grewal before the trial began.

Corning has asked Grewal to overturn the jury's verdict and award it the judgment as a matter of law.

"All of the testimony presented by the Defendants concerning the structure,features, and operation of the Alliance DAS confirmed the evidence presented by Corning

Wireless," lawyers for Corning Optical wrote in a post-trial motion. "There was no dispute of fact concerning infringement, and the issue should not have been presented to the jury."

- Tim O'Connor