Opinion
2011-1583
11-15-2012
DAVID A. TROPP, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. CONAIR CORPORATION, HP MARKETING CORP. LTD., L.C. INDUSTRIES, LLC, MASTER LOCK COMPANY LLC, SAMSONITE CORPORATION, TITAN LUGGAGE USA, TRAVELPRO INTERNATIONAL INC., AND TRG ACCESSORIES, LLC, Defendants-Appellees, AND BRIGGS & RILEY TRAVELWARE LLC, Defendant-Appellee, AND VF OUTDOOR, INC., BROOKSTONE COMPANY, INC., AND BROOKSTONE STORES, INC., Defendants-Appellees, AND DELSEY LUGGAGE INC., Defendant-Appellee, AND EBAGS, INC., Defendant-Appellee, AND MAGELLAN'S INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL CORPORATION, Defendant-Appellee, AND TUMI, INC., Defendant-Appellee, and WORDLOCK, INC., Defendant-Appellee, AND EAGLE CREEK, A DIVISION OF VF OUTDOOR, INC., AND OUTPAC DESIGNS INC., Defendants.
RONALD D. COLEMAN, Goetz Fitzpatrick LLP, of New York, New York, for plaintiff-appellant. With him on the brief was JOEL G. MACMULL. WILLIAM L. PRICKETT, Seyfarth Shaw LLP, of Boston, Massachusetts, for defendants-appellees Conair Corporation, et al. PETER I. BERNSTEIN, Scully, Scott, Murphy & Presser, of Garden City, New York, for defendant-appellee Briggs & Riley Travelware LLC. On the brief was ANTHONY J. DIFILIPPI, Abelman, Frayne & Schwab, of New York, New York. BRIAN A. CARPENTER, Buether Joe & Carpenter LLC, of Dallas, Texas, for defendants-appellees Brookstone Stores, Inc., et al. CHRISTOPHER F. LONEGRO, Ober, Kaler, Grimes & Shriver, of Baltimore, Maryland, for defendant-appellee Delsey Luggage Inc. JANET CULLUM, Cooley Godward Kronish, LLP, of New York, New York for defendant-appellee eBags, Inc. With her on the brief was CAROLYN JUAREZ. Of counsel was LORI R. MASON, of Palo Alto, California. ROBERT J. KENNEY, Birch, Steward, Kolasch & Birch, of Falls Church, Virginia, for defendant-appellee Magellan’s International Travel Corporation. NEIL P. SIROTA, Baker Botts, LLP, of New York, New York, for defendant-appellee Tumi, Inc. On the brief was JENNIFER C. TEMPESTA. THOMAS F. FITZPATRICK, Goodwin Procter LLP, of Menlo Park, California, for defendant-appellee Wordlock, Inc.
NOTE: This disposition is nonprecedential.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York in Case No. 08-CV-4446, Judge Eric N. Vitaliano.
RONALD D. COLEMAN, Goetz Fitzpatrick LLP, of New York, New York, for plaintiff-appellant. With him on the brief was JOEL G. MACMULL.
WILLIAM L. PRICKETT, Seyfarth Shaw LLP, of Boston, Massachusetts, for defendants-appellees Conair Corporation, et al.
PETER I. BERNSTEIN, Scully, Scott, Murphy & Presser, of Garden City, New York, for defendant-appellee Briggs & Riley Travelware LLC. On the brief was ANTHONY J. DIFILIPPI, Abelman, Frayne & Schwab, of New York, New York.
BRIAN A. CARPENTER, Buether Joe & Carpenter LLC, of Dallas, Texas, for defendants-appellees Brookstone Stores, Inc., et al.
CHRISTOPHER F. LONEGRO, Ober, Kaler, Grimes & Shriver, of Baltimore, Maryland, for defendant-appellee Delsey Luggage Inc.
JANET CULLUM, Cooley Godward Kronish, LLP, of New York, New York for defendant-appellee eBags, Inc. With her on the brief was CAROLYN JUAREZ. Of counsel was LORI R. MASON, of Palo Alto, California.
ROBERT J. KENNEY, Birch, Steward, Kolasch & Birch, of Falls Church, Virginia, for defendant-appellee Magellan’s International Travel Corporation.
NEIL P. SIROTA, Baker Botts, LLP, of New York, New York, for defendant-appellee Tumi, Inc. On the brief was JENNIFER C. TEMPESTA.
THOMAS F. FITZPATRICK, Goodwin Procter LLP, of Menlo Park, California, for defendant-appellee Wordlock, Inc.
Before RADER, Chief Judge, LOURIE, Circuit Judge, and
DANIEL, Chief District Judge .
The Honorable Wiley Y. Daniel, Chief District Judge, United States District Court for the District of Colorado, sitting by designation.
RADER, Chief Judge.
David A. Tropp sued Defendants-Appellees, eighteen manufacturers and distributors of luggage, for infringement of United States Patent Nos. 7,021,537 (the '537 patent) and 7,036,728 (the '728 patent) in connection with their use of a dual-access luggage lock system designed and licensed by Travel Sentry, Inc. ("Travel Sentry"). In September 2010, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York awarded declaratory judgment of non-infringement of the '537 and '728 patents to Travel Sentry. Travel Sentry, Inc. v. Tropp (Travel Sentry I), 736 F. Supp. 2d 623, 639 (E.D.N.Y. 2010). The district court then dismissed the present case as barred by collateral estoppel based on the decision in Travel Sentry I. Tropp v. Conair Corp., No. 08-cv-4446, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 88559 (E.D.N.Y. Aug. 10, 2011). Tropp appeals, and this court has jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1295(a).
This court recently vacated and remanded the Travel Sentry I decision for a determination of whether Travel Sentry is liable for indirect infringement under the standard set forth in this court's en banc opinion in Akamai Techs. Co. v. Limelight Networks, Inc., 692 F.3d 1301 (Fed. Cir. 2012). Travel Sentry, Inc. v. Tropp (Travel Sentry II),No. 2011-1023, -1367, 2012 U.S. App. LEXIS 22691, at *25 (Fed. Cir. Nov. 5, 2012). Because Travel Sentry II vacated the decision that formed the basis of the district court's application of collateral estoppel, that doctrine no longer applies. Therefore, this court vacates the dismissal of the present action and remands for further proceedings.