Koratron Co., Inc. v. Lion Uniform, Inc.

MEMORANDUM OF OPINION

This suit for patent infringement was brought by plaintiff Koratron Company, Inc. (Koratron), against defendant Lion Uniform, Inc. (Lion). Lion raised a number of defenses, including the invalidity, limited scope, and misuse of the Koratron patent. This case is now in the second stage in a bifurcated proceeding involving exceedingly complex patent and antitrust questions.

Seventeen actions were consolidated for pretrial proceedings by order of the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation. Sixteen of the actions, including the instant case, were subsequently consolidated for trial. The trial was bifurcated in the interest of judicial efficiency. Following an extensive trial, the Court issued a Memorandum of Opinion, reported as Jack Winter, Inc. v. Koratron Company, Inc., 375 F.Supp. 1 (N.D. Cal.1974), which resolved many, but not all, of the central issues in the sixteen actions. From the beginning, it was contemplated that a subsequent trial, such as the present proceeding, would be necessary to resolve the remaining issues. The scope of this proceeding is, however, much narrower than was expected because Koratron has successfully negotiated settlements…