Warrior Sports Inc. has sued a Detroit law firm for $33 million because two of its patent attorneys let a lacrosse stick patent lapse in 2004 after failing to pay a required maintenance fee on time. Consequently, the suit claims, competitors entered the market with similar lacrosse sticks, according to a report on law.com.
The patent lapse also forced Warrior to reach an unfavorable settlement in an ongoing infringement suit against a competitor — STX — which was selling the patented stick and still gets to sell it under the terms of the deal, according to the suit filed on Monday in federal court.
The accused lawyers, John A. Artz and John S. Artz, worked for Artz & Artz at the time the patent lapsed. The two joined Dickinson Wright in 2007, so the plaintiffs are now holding Dickinson Wright liable, claiming “what was once a legal monopoly for Warrior is no more.”
David Black of
“When they allowed the patent to lapse, it became invalid. As a result, competitors were able to enter the market, and Warrior was forced to settle the ongoing litigation it had with its main competitor,” Black said. “When the patent was invalidated, that pretty much pulled the rug out from under the infringement claim.”
Black said the Artz attorneys created more legal headaches for Warrior Sports when, in a counterclaim by STX, they were accused of engaging in inequitable conduct for allegedly deceiving the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in obtaining the stick's patent. That, he said, also forced the settlement.
“If there was any chance at all to preserve the patent, it needed to settle. If [STX] had been successful in the inequitable conduct claim, the patent would have been voided from the beginning. Whereas now, they were successful in having the patent reinstated,” Black told law.com. “Unfortunately, it doesn't reduce the damage that was suffered while the patent was lapsed from 2004 to May of this year.”
The two lawyers being sued declined comment.
