Homedics, Inc. v. Valley Forge Insurance

The question we address here is to what extent, under California law, patent infringement claims invoke an insurers’ duty to defend under a commercial general liability policy. Homedics, Inc. (“Homed-ies”), appeals the dismissal of its complaint against ACE Fire Underwriters Insurance Company (formerly known as CIGNA Fire *1137 Underwriters Insurance Company) (“ACE”) for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. See Fed. R. Civ. Pro. 12(b)(6). Homedics was sued in federal district court for infringing the design patents of its competitor Nikken, Inc. (“Nikken”). Homedics claimed that Nikken’s claims of patent infringement triggered ACE’s duty to defend, under Homedics’ commercial general liability policy. The district court disagreed and found that the policy at issue could not reasonably be read to include the Nikken claims. The district court had jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1332 . We have juris: diction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 . We agree that the underlying patent infringement suits do not invoke ACE’s duty to defend and accordingly AFFIRM the district court.

Facts

On November 4, 1998, Nikken, Inc. filed a complaint in the district court for the…