A recent Law 360 story by Hailey Konnath, “Cisco Says ‘Reckless’ IP Suit is ‘Poster Child’ for Atty Fees,” reports that Cisco told a California federal court it’s entitled to $5.3 million in attorney fees and court costs from Straight Path IP Group Inc. after defeating what it called a “recklessly litigated” and “meritless” patent infringement suit that is “the poster child” for exceptional cases warranting fees.

Cisco Systems Inc. tore into the 2016 case over its “voice over internet protocol” phone products in a 31-page motion seeking attorney fees, saying Straight Path’s counsel — attorneys with Los Angeles firm Russ August & Kabat — litigated “untenable claims in an unreasonable manner,” warranting sanctions.  Cisco should therefore get $3.8 million in attorney fees and $1.5 million in litigation costs, it said.

Straight Path’s counsel litigated the case “untethered to” their client's previous positions and Federal Circuit rulings, Cisco said in the motion. Straight Path’s attorneys also violated the Patent Local Rules, the law of California’s Northern District and the court’s order by adding 50 new products to the case during expert discovery, Cisco said.

“Straight Path’s attorneys should have known before they filed this suit that their infringement claims were untenable,” Cisco said.  “For example, the fact that Cisco’s accused products practiced the Session Initiation Protocol communication standard and the details of that standard — the crux of Straight Path’s infringement case — were public knowledge.”

Straight Path filed a suit against Cisco and a similar suit against Apple Inc. in June 2016.  It claimed Cisco and Apple had infringed Straight Path’s patents protecting technology enabling internet voice and video calling, according to the suits.  The patents-in-suit claim a “single, narrow invention”: checking whether a call recipient’s device is connected to the network before attempting to make call, Cisco said in the motion.

The Federal Circuit had upheld Straight Path’s patents in an earlier case in 2015, and that decision narrowed the patents’ scope, according to court filings. Ultimately, that decision sank Straight Path’s suits — U.S. District Judge William Alsup granted motions for summary judgment in favor of Apple and Cisco in November 2017, according to the filings.  The judge also ordered Straight Path and its counsel to show cause why they shouldn’t be held liable for defendants’ attorney fees, according to Judge Alsup’s order.  That issue was stayed while Straight Path appealed his summary judgement decision to the Federal Circuit.