US Appeals Court Affirms Noninfringement Ruling for Sharp, Vizio

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed the 2019 decisions of the U.S. District Court in Wilmington, Delaware, that Sharp and Vizio TVs didn't infringe two 2002 WiLAN video patents, said its opinion (in Pacer) Tuesday. WiLAN sued the vendors four months apart in Delaware in 2015, and the court tried the cases in parallel rather than combining them. It granted Sharp and Vizio’s motion for summary judgment of noninfringement on one of the patents, saying WiLAN “lacked sufficient admissible evidence to prove direct infringement” when it failed to produce the critical source code at trial, and the appeals court agreed. WiLAN also challenged the district court’s claim limitation construction as the basis of its ruling by stipulation that Sharp and Vizio didn’t infringe the second patent. The appeals court rejected WiLAN’s argument, concluding “the district court’s construction of this limitation was correct.” Sharp "is very pleased with the Federal Circuit’s decision," emailed Sharp Home Electronics President Jim Sanduski. "This important ruling and precedential opinion confirms what we have always maintained and what the District Court had already decided." WiLAN didn’t respond to questions, nor did Vizio.