Recent Successes
August 25, 2011
On August 18, 2011, Fitch Even client Alexsam, Inc., obtained a favorable patent claim construction decision in its patent infringement lawsuit against Pier 1 Imports, Inc., which is pending before the Honorable Charles Everingham IV in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas.
Alexsam contends in this lawsuit that Pier 1 infringes U.S. Patent Nos. 6,000,608 and 6,189,787, which relate to systems and methods for conducting electronic transactions associated with various types of stored value cards. The case addresses the systems used by Pier 1 to activate and recharge its gift cards at the point of sale. Pier 1 raised two key issues of patent claim interpretation in defense to the alleged infringement. On August 18, after receiving briefing and conducting a Markman claim construction hearing, Judge Everingham issued an order that adopted Alexsam’s proposed constructions of the disputed claim terms in full.
The case is scheduled for jury trial in October of this year.
Alexsam is represented in the litigation by Fitch Even attorneys Timothy P. Maloney, Steven C. Schroer, Alison A. Richards, Nicole L. Little, and David A. Gosse, together with local trial counsel Melissa Smith of the law firm Gillam & Smith in Marshall, Texas. Mr. Maloney argued for Alexsam at the Markman hearing.
Pier 1 is represented by Washington, D.C.-based Kaye Scholer and Dallas-based Thompson & Knight, together with local trial counsel from Siebman, Reynolds, Burg, Phillips & Smith.
