Kramer Levin Obtains Crucial Victory in Patent Infringement Case for Clients Condé Nast, Vogue

On Friday, October 30, 2009, U.S. District Court Judge Kenneth M. Karas of the Southern District of New York issued a key patent claim construction decision in favor of our clients Condé Nast, Vogue Magazine and Advance Publications in a patent infringement action brought against them by a Georgia-based web hosting company, Active8. In the forty page opinion construing twenty separate patent terms and phrases spanning two patents, Judge Karas sided with our clients on all twenty issues in dispute.

Defendant Active8 originally sued Condé Nast, Vogue and others for patent infringement in Georgia in June 2005. The Kramer Levin team successfully had the case transferred to the Southern District of New York for consolidation with an action that we filed. Judge Karas’ decision follows a Markman patent claim construction hearing held on January 10, 2007. Markman refers to the seminal U.S. Supreme Court decision that held that patent claim language is to be construed as a matter of law by the trial judge.

Active8’s asserted business method patents are directed to a system that takes print magazine advertisements, such as those found in Vogue magazine, and links them to an interactive website with reproductions of the print documents. Judge Karas ruled that Active8’s patent claims require the use of unique codes that are separately added to the print advertisements and used to locate corresponding interactive ads on a website. Condé Nast and Vogue Magazine do not use such codes. Therefore, the claim construction order renders Active8’s patent infringement claims untenable, and should leave such claims and other causes of action asserted by Active8 in the case open to attack/dismissal on summary judgment grounds.

While IP partner Randy Lipsitz, IP special counsel Richard L. Moss and IP senior associate Aaron Frankel formed the core team representing the clients, many others here at Kramer Levin contributed to the successful result including associates Heather J. Chase, Leslie Nguyen and former associate Matthew Abbott.