By Memorandum Order entered by The Honorable Richard G. Andrews in Dragon Intellectual Property, LLC v. Dish Network, LLC, Civil Action No. 13-02066-RGA (D.Del. November 7, 2018) (consolidated), the Court denied the motions of Defendants DISH Network, LLC and Sirius XM Radio Inc. requesting the Court to declare the case exceptional and award reasonable attorneys’ fees pursuant to 35 U.S.C. § 285. In denying the motions, the Court explained that the moving defendants are not prevailing parties because the previous judgments of non-infringement in the cases were vacated and, thus, the Court has not awarded “actual relief on the merits.” Id. at *2.
The Court also denied Defendants’ motions seeking an award of fees from Plaintiff’s former attorneys pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §1927. Id. at *3. Defendants identified three issues with Plaintiff’s counsel’s representation of Plaintiff that they believed entitled Defendants to an award of attorneys’ fees against Plaintiff’s counsel pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §1927. Id. The Court disagreed and found that the conduct identified by Defendants was not sufficient to support an award of fees pursuant to Section 1927 under the Third Circuit standard. Id. at *3-4.
A copy of the Memorandum Order is attached.