Representative Cases

Brinks Hofer Gilson & Lione achieved a victory in a major patent infringement case brought against its client, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, by Star Scientific, Inc. The case involved two patents for a method of substantially preventing the formation of tobacco-specific nitrosamines. Star had requested damages of more than a billion dollars. Brinks tried the case in a bench trial before the Court that focused on the defense of inequitable conduct that Brinks developed during discovery.

U.S. District Court Judge Marvin J. Garbis concluded that Star improperly attempted to procure patent coverage for old tobacco curing technology and, in the process, concealed that old technology from the Patent Office. On June 26, 2007, Judge Garbis dismissed all claims, entering a final judgment that Star?s patents are unenforceable and invalid. The final judgment incorporates earlier January 2007 rulings by Judge Garbis granting summary judgment in favor of R.J. Reynolds. Judge Garbis deemed Star's patent claims invalid as fatally indefinite, observing that "the essential problem with the claims is that no one - certainly not one of ordinary skill in the art - reading the patents-in-suit would be able to carry out the invention." Star has appealed the final judgment to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit seeking to overturn the inequitable conduct and invalidity rulings of the District Court. Brinks is representing R.J. Reynolds in the appeal.