Garmin International Inc, a subsidiary of Garmin Ltd, the global leader in satellite navigation, has announced victory in a lawsuit brought by Pacing Technologies LLC against Garmin. The United States District Court for the Southern District of California granted Garmin’s motion for summary judgment of non-infringement.
This found that Garmin’s popular Forerunner and Edge products could not be covered by Pacing’s patent. Although, the Court’s decision is subject to appeal.
“This is yet another victory for Garmin in its campaign against the plague of bogus patent lawsuits that have corrupted the patent system at a huge cost to American industry and consumers,” said Andrew Etkind, Garmin’s Vice President and General Counsel. “Garmin’s fitness products are nothing like the playback devices described in Pacing’s patent and we‘re pleased that the Court was able to summarily dispose of this lawsuit.”
Background
On 1 May 2012, Pacing Technologies filed suit in the United States District Court for the Southern District of California against Garmin International Inc, Garmin USA Inc and Garmin Ltd alleging infringement of US Patent No. 8,101,843.
On 6 July 2012, Garmin filed its answer asserting that each asserted claim of the patent-in-suit was invalid and/or not infringed.
From late 2012 onwards, Garmin noted that although there could be no assurance that an unfavourable outcome of the litigation would not have an adverse effect on its financial position, Garmin believed the claims in the lawsuit were without merit and intended to vigorously defend the action.
Garmin was represented by a team led by Nicholas Groombridge, Jennifer Wu, and Jenny Wu of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP.
