December 2011

Spotlight Info

In In re Ricoh Co. Patent Litigation, No. 11-1199 (Fed. Cir. Nov. 23, 2011), the Federal Circuit
affirmed-in-part, reversed-in-part, and vacated-in-part the district court’s award of costs to Synopsys, Inc. (“Synopsys”) under 28 U.S.C. § 1920 and remanded for further proceedings.

After the Court affirmed the district court’s grant of SJ of noninfringement in a previous appeal, the district court on remand awarded Synopsys nearly $939,000 under 28 U.S.C. § 1920, including amounts for an electronic document database, exemplification fees and copy costs, and deposition and interpreter costs.   Ricoh Company, Ltd. (“Ricoh”) again appealed.  With respect to the award for the electronic document database, the Court reversed, determining that the parties’ agreement for cost-sharing was controlling.  On the portion of the award for exemplification fees and copy costs, the Court found that the district court abused its discretion because Synopsys did not meet its burden of proof to establish the amount of costs to which it was entitled.  Finally, the Court affirmed the district court’s award for the transcription of depositions and interpreter fees, concluding under Ninth Circuit law that at the time the depositions were taken, it was reasonable to expect those depositions were for the purpose of trial preparation and that the translation costs were necessary in connection with several of the depositions.  Accordingly, the Court remanded for further proceedings consistent with its opinion.