Faegre & Benson Wins Defense Verdict in Patent Infringement Trial for Seagate

A California jury on December 23 found a Siemens patent asserted against Seagate's hard disc drives was invalid based on anticipation and obviousness.

The jury's verdict represents a complete defense verdict of no liability on Siemens' claim for patent infringement.

Siemens sued Seagate in 2006 in the Central District of California, alleging that all Seagate disc drives since 2000 have infringed a patent on a particular type of sensor used in read heads for hard disc drives.

Faegre & Benson attorney David J.F. Gross, who served as lead trial counsel for Seagate, says he was confident the jury would find the patent invalid. "We were pleased with the verdict, which we believed was well supported by the evidence," says Gross.

In addition to Gross, the Seagate trial team included IP litigation partners Cal Litsey, Mary Cullen Yeager and Aaron Van Oort and IP litigation associates Chad Drown, Kevin Wagner, Tim Grimsrud, Chris Burrell and Jeya Paul. Martha Gooding of Howrey LLP served as co-counsel at trial.

Seagate is the worldwide leader in the design, manufacture and marketing of hard disc drives and storage solutions, providing products for a wide-range of applications, including Enterprise, Desktop, Mobile Computing, and Consumer Solutions.