NEW YORK — Feb. 4, 2005 — The international law firm of Chadbourne & Parke LLP, in a case for a California company, won affirmance of a 2003 district court victory in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
Ruling February 3rd, the Federal Circuit upheld the 2003 decision that Chadbourne had won on behalf of Sunnyvale-based Conductus, Inc., and that the San Francisco firm of Heller Ehrman White & McAuliffe won on behalf of Superconductor Technologies, Inc., in a lawsuit brought by ISCO International in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware. The underlying case alleged infringement of ISCO’s U.S. patent 6,263,215 for “Cryoelectronically Cooled Receiver Front End for Mobile Communications System.” In December 2002, Conductus and Superconductor Technologies merged, Conductus becoming a subsidiary of Superconductor Technologies.
After a two week jury trial in 2003, the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware found that the ISCO patent was invalid and unenforceable because it was procured through inequitable conduct. Chadbourne’s team for Conductus was led by partner Lawrence Goodwin; associates Daniel Basov and Dennis Hopkins also worked on the case.
The technology at issue in the case (cryogenically cooled receiver front ends for cellular base stations) makes cellular telephone base stations more sensitive and selective, which results in increased range, fewer dropped calls and clearer signals.
About Chadbourne & Parke LLP
Chadbourne & Parke LLP, an international law firm headquartered in New York City, provides a full range of legal services, including mergers and acquisitions, securities, project finance, corporate finance, energy, telecommunications, commercial and products liability litigation, securities litigation and regulatory enforcement, white collar defense, intellectual property, antitrust, domestic and international tax, reinsurance and insurance, environmental, real estate, bankruptcy and financial restructuring, employment law and ERISA, trusts and estates and government contract matters. The Firm has offices in New York, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, Houston, Moscow, Kyiv, Warsaw (through a Polish partnership), Beijing and a multinational partnership, Chadbourne & Parke, in London. For additional information, visit www.chadbourne.com.
