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Plaintiff Sanctioned in Hybrid Patent Spat v. Toyota

Law360
February 10, 2010

Media Mention

A federal judge has granted Toyota Motor Corp.’s bid for sanctions in a patent infringement suit over a hybrid vehicle control system, ruling that the plaintiff (a patent attorney) repeatedly missed deadlines and forced the court to expend resources managing delays instead of attending to the case’s merits. The judge ordered Conrad Gardner to reimburse Toyota for “reasonable costs and expenses” that were incurred as a result of his failure to meet case deadlines. The judge declined to throw out the entire case as punishment for Gardner’s actions, which Toyota had requested. Gardner initially filed suit in April 2008, alleging that Toyota is infringing his patent, which covers an extended-range motor vehicle having ambient pollutant processing. Toyota is represented by Finnegan.