 
Xinyi Motions for Court to Vacate or Modify $22 Million Judgment
Against It in Patent Infringement Suit
May 7, 2010
Xinyi Glass North America and Xinyi Automobile Glass Co. have filed
a motion requesting that the U.S. District Court for the Northern
District of Ohio hold vacate or modify the jury's $22 million damages
verdict, and is requesting that the court hold a new trial in the
patent infringement suit Saint-Gobain filed against it in November
2006. The trial was held last November, and the final damages figure
was released this April.
And, just last week, Xinyi was granted a stay until May 31 while
it worked to secure bonding for the damages owed to Saint-Gobain.
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In the suit, Saint-Gobain alleged that Xinyi infringed on two of
its patents, one titled "Spacer for Windshield Bracket"
(known in court documents as the '669 patent) and one titled "Method
of Centering Windshield Glazings" (referred to as the '395
patent). The '669 patent is said to be for the "first spacer
being provided with means for centering and aligning the glazing
upon the bracket," while the '395 patent is described as follows,
"whereby said lip portion of the spacer contacts said bracket
to provide a force for centering said glazing thereon, which force
is sufficient to maintain centering of the glazing on the bracket."
In Xinyi's 38-page motion requesting a new trial, the company argues
that the jury the jury lacked "substantial evidence on key
issues."
Among these, Xinyi alleges that the correct construction of "centering"
requires an even gap all around the periphery of the glazing, but
that Saint-Gobain failed to prove infringement on this point, as
it had defined "centering" as "non-skewed" or
"straight" during the course of the trial, according to
court documents.
Likewise, Xinyi claims that Saint-Gobain failed to prove infringement
when using its own centering definition as well.
"There was no evidence at trial that the lips of the accused
Xinyi windshields satisfied these requirements [as described in
the patents]," writes counsel for Xinyi. "Instead, the
most Saint-Gobain proved is that (1) the accused windshields have
lips; and (2) those lips create 'a force' when bent."
Xinyi says Saint-Gobain should have run an "off-kilter test"
on the accused Xinyi windshields by having expert witness Bob Beranek
purposefully "set the Xinyi windshields 'off kilter.'"
"If he had done so in this case, the jury would have learned
whether the lips of the accused Xinyi windshields are capable of
forcing an 'off-kilter' windshield back into a nonskewed or straight
position," writes Xinyi.
In addition, the defendant argues that Xinyi can't be charged damages
for time during which it was unaware of the patents involved in
the case, and that the company didn't know about the patents involved
until it was notified about these in May 2005.
"Accordingly, there was no basis for the jury to find induced
or contributory infringement prior to May 2005, and no basis for
awarding damages for Xinyi windshields sold before that date,"
the motion continues. "
The jury's damages award must
therefore be vacated as lacking substantial evidence or, in the
alternative, be modified to reflect no infringement before May 2005."
Xinyi also claims that Saint-Gobain "failed to prove that
277,645 accused windshields were actually installed in the [United
States] during the term of [the patents]." The company says
that while Saint-Gobain based its case on Xinyi's sale of the windshields
in the United States, the company didn't address "actual installations
of those products by installers in the [United States]."
The defendant company requests a new trial on the patent infringement
charges, but also requests that if this is not granted, that a new
trial on the amount of the damages should be held.
The court had previously ruled that Xinyi owes Saint-Gobain damages
of approximately $22 million, along with attorney's fees of nearly
$2 million and court costs totaling $384,882.99-for a total of more
than $24 million.
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