A federal appeals court today upheld a ruling against Argentum Medical in its patent infringement battle against Noble Biomaterials.
The Federal Circuit Appeals Court denied Argentum’s bid without comment today in a per curiam decision, according to court documents.
It’s the most recent development in a longstanding feud between Argentum and Noble over Noble’s SilverSeal anti-microbial bandages, which Argentum claimed infringed on 1 of their patents.
Argentum sued Noble in late 2007; the case was dismissed by the U.S. District Court for Middle Pennsylvania on the grounds that Argentum did not have exclusive patent rights. Noble filed a counter-claim against Argentum and its management, specifically CEO Gregg Silver and president Tom Miller, claiming they had “pursued baseless litigation and falsely advised the market” that Noble infringed on the patent.
The jury decided in Scranton, Pa.-based Noble’s favor, awarding $1 million in compensatory damages, $1 million from Miller and $1.25 million from Silver, respectively, in punitive damages. The court later added a $1 million judgment against Geneva, Ill.-based Argentum for filing the patent suit in bad faith.
Argentum appealed, but lost a bid for a new trial with the U.S. District Court of Middle Pennsylvania, in which they argued that Noble failed to prove Argentum acted in bad faith and disputed the jury’s award of punitive damages. Following the 1st appeal rejection, Argentum filed a case against its former patent attorney Joseph Fuchs, and his Chicago law firm Rockey Depke & Lyons, asserting that they were negligent in their prosecution of the case against Noble.
Argentum said it paid $675,000 to Rockey (and another $900,000 to the firm it hired after it fired Rockey in July 2010), and sought judgments of $5 million in compensatory damages against Fuchs and the law firm, as well as legal costs and pre- and post-judgment interest.
That case was dismissed in July 2013 after the parties reached a settlement, according to court documents.
