The Federal Circuit has invalidated a $3.9 million attorneys’ fees award that Dish Network LLC and its Sling TV LLC unit secured while defending against a patent infringement suit brought by Realtime Adaptive Streaming LLC. The litigation, initiated in 2017, accused Dish and Sling TV of infringing on US Patent No. 8,867,610. Realtime’s claim hinged on alleged data compression technology violations.
In a recent precedential opinion, a three-judge panel criticized the Colorado district court’s reliance on various “red flags” which were deemed critical in concluding that Realtime’s lawsuit was “fatally flawed.” These red flags led to the attorneys’ fees award, but the panel now requires the lower court to reconsider this decision. The case will be scrutinized anew to determine whether the pursuit of the lawsuit was indeed unreasonable from the outset.
This ruling has broader implications for patent litigation, underscoring the thoroughness required in evaluating the validity and enforceability of patents before pursuing legal action. Realtime Adaptive Streaming LLC has a history of aggressive litigation, having also sued major players like Netflix and Google over similar data-compression technology.
For further reading and details on the case, access the Bloomberg Law report.