Alberti Lim secured yet another significant and strategic win for its client, the University of Michigan (U of M), prevailing in the claim construction ruling with the court refusing to accept defendant Leica Microsystems’ claim construction argument on the central, case dispositive issue.

U of M filed an important patent infringement case in the U.S. District Court, The Trustees of the University of Michigan v. Leica Microsystems, accusing Leica Microsystems of willfully infringing the university’s pioneering patent on fluorescence detection technology. On February 14, 2024, the court issued a claim construction ruling refusing to adopt Leica’s request to construe the principal patent claim term as argued by Leica, which would have set the stage for Leica’s central noninfringement defense.  The case will now proceed towards a jury trial in the federal court.

This follows on the significant victory last year that the Alberti Lim firm secured for U of M in an important and strategic appeals win in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit against Leica in this case. In that decision, the federal appeals court unanimously upheld the validity of all claims of U of M’s valuable and foundational patent on fluorescence detection technology, as reported in the press, including in an article published in Law360. In that decision, the Federal Circuit unanimously upheld in its entirety U of M’s win in Leica’s inter partes review (“IPR”) in which Leica unsuccessfully challenged the validity of U of M’s patent in the Patent Office’s PTAB.  “Leica will be estopped from re-litigating the validity of U of M’s patent with respect to the prior art, and we expect this will streamline a resolution of U of M’s patent infringement case against Leica as it now proceeds towards trial in the district court,” added partner Russell Tonkovich, who led the firm’s effort to win the IPR in the PTAB and the appeal in the Federal Circuit.

The team working on this case includes Russell Tonkovich, David Alberti, Sal Lim, Jim Barabas, Aidan Brewster, and Adriana Cole.

About Alberti Lim & Tonkovich LLP

Founded in 2010 and based in Silicon Valley with attorneys in New York, Washington, D.C., and Austin, Texas, Alberti Lim has risen to become a highly sought-after patent litigation firm representing patent owners in large complex cases. With a team of 20 technically trained and experienced patent litigation trial attorneys representing an unrivaled assembly of specialized expertise, Alberti Lim is positioned as a firm of choice for plaintiffs seeking large recoveries in patent monetization and clients in need of objective-based IP solutions.

For more on Alberti Lim please visit www.albertilim.com

David Alberti | 650.825.4300