August.03.2012
Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP recently secured a preliminary injunction for client Dyson Technology enjoining the manufacture and distribution of infringing copies of Dyson's popular bladeless fans by Cornucopia Products. On July 27, 2012, Judge Wake of the District Court of Arizona, granted the preliminary injunction and also granted Dyson's motion to dismiss antitrust claims asserted by Cornucopia.
This case started on an unusual procedural footing when Cornucopia filed an antitrust claim against Dyson in February 2012. Prior to the filing of its antitrust suit, Dyson was unaware of Cornucopia or its infringing fan. Once Dyson finally saw Cornucopia's fan, it filed the present patent infringement action and moved for a preliminary injunction of non-infringement. In the mean time, Dyson moved to dismiss Cornucopia's spurious antitrust claims. With Judge Wake's July 27th order, Dyson succeeded on all fronts.
The Orrick team was lead by San Francisco litigation partner Rob Shwarts and included New York intellectual property partners Joe Calvaruso and Rich Martinelli, San Francisco antitrust and competition partners Bob Rosenfeld and Russell Cohen and San Francisco intellectual property senior associate Justin Lichterman, New York intellectual property managing associate Chi Cheung and San Francisco litigation associate Betsy Popken.