Saes Getters S.P.A. v. Aeronex, Inc.

ORDER GRANTING DEFENDANT’S MOTION FOR LEAVE TO AMEND

I. INTRODUCTION

Before the Court is Defendant Aero-nex’s Motion for Leave to Amend First Amended Answer, Affirmative Defenses, and Counterclaims (“Motion” or “Motion for Leave to Amend”). The parties came for a hearing on Defendants Motion on August 12, 2002, at 10:30 a.m. Having carefully considered the parties’ arguments as presented in their papers and at the hearing, the Court grants Defendant’s Motion for the reasons given below.

II. BACKGROUND

This patent case is still in the earliest stages of litigation. The following factual detail is relevant to Aeronex’s Motion for Leave to Amend.

A. SAES Getters’s Suit

SAES Getters, S.p.A., an Italian corporation, (“SAES Getters”) owns U.S. Patent Number 5,716,588 (the “ ’588 Patent”), issued on February 10, 1998, entitled “Getter Materials for Deoxygenating Ammonia/Oxygen Gas Mixtures at Low Temperature.” The ’588 Patent, as its title indicates, claims to describe a “method for removing oxygen from ammonia at low temperature.”

On December 28, 2001, SAES Getters filed this. action against Aeronex in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California,…