Kramer Alberti secured yet another significant and strategic win for its client, the University of Michigan (U of M), prevailing in the claim construction ruling with the court refusing to accept defendant Leica Microsystems’ claim construction argument on the central, case dispositive issue.

U of M filed an important patent infringement case in the U.S. District Court, The Trustees of the University of Michigan v. Leica Microsystems, accusing Leica Microsystems of willfully infringing the university’s pioneering patent on fluorescence detection technology. On February 14, 2024, the court issued a claim construction ruling refusing to adopt Leica’s request to construe the principal patent claim term as argued by Leica, which would have set the stage for Leica’s central noninfringement defense.  The case will now proceed towards a jury trial in the federal court.

“This is a major victory for The University of Michigan, and rejection of the principal argument and defense raised by Leica Microsystems, the largest microscope maker in the world,” explained Kramer Alberti partner Robert Kramer, lead counsel for The University of Michigan.

This follows on the significant victory last year that the Kramer Alberti firm secured for U of M in an important and strategic appeals win in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit against Leica in this case. In that decision, the federal appeals court unanimously upheld the validity of all claims of U of M’s valuable and foundational patent on fluorescence detection technology, as reported in the press, including in an article published in Law360. In that decision, the Federal Circuit unanimously upheld in its entirety U of M’s win in Leica’s inter partes review (“IPR”) in which Leica unsuccessfully challenged the validity of U of M’s patent in the Patent Office’s PTAB.  “Leica will be estopped from re-litigating the validity of U of M’s patent with respect to the prior art, and we expect this will streamline a resolution of U of M’s patent infringement case against Leica as it now proceeds towards trial in the district court,” added partner Russell Tonkovich, who led the firm’s effort to win the IPR in the PTAB and the appeal in the Federal Circuit.

“This is a victory for all public universities, and serves as a warning to infringers to tread carefully before knowingly misappropriating patented technologies developed by universities and their dedicated professors using taxpayer and university funds and public grants,” added Kramer.

The team working on this case includes Rob Kramer, Russell Tonkovich, David Alberti, Sal Lim, Jim Barabas, Aidan Brewster, and Adriana Cole.

About Kramer Alberti

Founded in 2010 and based in Silicon Valley, with attorneys in New York, and Washington, D.C., Kramer Alberti has risen to become a highly sought-after patent litigation firm representing inventors, universities and technology companies. With a team of 20 technically trained and experienced patent litigation trial attorneys representing an unrivaled assembly of specialized expertise, Kramer Alberti is positioned as a firm of choice for plaintiffs seeking large recoveries in patent monetization and clients in need of objective-based IP solutions. Kramer Alberti is one of a select few firms nationally to have been honored on the National Law Journal’s and the Texas Lawyer’s list of Top Verdicts.

For more on Kramer Alberti Lim & Tonkovich LLP, please visit www.krameralberti.com