Court Sanctions Niro Patent Law Firm Millions In Fees

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Court Sanctions Niro Patent Law Firm Millions In Fees


The new year has not gotten off to a good start for well–known patent law firm Niro, Haller & Niro of Chicago. As reported by Law.com, the Niro firm is on the hook for millions of dollars in attorneys’ fees in a lawsuit it filed on behalf of Intellect Wireless against HTC. U.S. District Judge William Hart sanctioned the Niro firm for filing patent infringement lawsuits after learning that false declarations had been submitted to the USPTO during the prosecution of the asserted patents. The judge previously determined that the patents were unenforceable because of the inequitable conduct of the applicant in submitting those false declarations to the PTO.

Specifically, the judge found that in February 2007 the inventor alerted the patents’ prosecutor to the existence of the false declarations, and suggested that litigation counsel be consulted. Yet the Niro firm went on to file lawsuits, including the lawsuit against HTC, as late as 2009. In light of the evidence presented, the judge concluded that the inventor, Intellect Wireless, the Niro firm, and attorneys Raymond Niro, Paul Vickrey, Paul Gibbons, and David Mahalek were jointly and severally liable for an amount of attorneys’ fees between $2.3 million (the Niro firm’s calculation) and $4.7 million (the amount sought by HTC). The precise amount remains to be determined by the court.

This outcome serves as a powerful (and pricy) reminder of a client’s obligation to be truthful with the PTO and its outside counsel, and litigation counsel’s obligation to carefully vet all claims and defenses it presents to the court before presenting them.

The court’s opinion and order can be read here.

The Law.com article can be found here (registration required).

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