Octane Fitness, LLC v. ICON Health & Fitness, Inc.
United States Supreme Court
572 U.S. 545 (2014)
ICON Health & Fitness (plaintiff) sued Octane Fitness (defendant), alleging Octane's exercise machines infringed ICON's patents; the trial court granted Octane summary judgment of noninfringement and then denied Octane's motion for attorney's fees under § 285 of the Patent Act, applying the Federal Circuit's Brooks Furniture test requiring either material misconduct or both subjective bad faith and objective baselessness, proven by clear and convincing evidence. The Federal Circuit affirmed both the noninfringement finding and the fee denial, declining to revisit its exceptionality standard, and the Supreme Court granted certiorari on the fee question.
Whether § 285 of the Patent Act, authorizing fee awards in "exceptional" cases, requires the rigid, two-part Brooks Furniture framework proven by clear and convincing evidence, or instead permits a more flexible, discretionary inquiry under a preponderance standard.