Blank Rome Secures Significant Victory for Dominion Resources in Patent Infringement Trial
A Blank Rome team secured a significant victory for Dominion Resources, Inc., in a jury trial in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, against Alstom Grid, Inc., in the willful infringement of a Dominion energy-conservation software patent. As a result, the jury has ordered Alstom to pay Dominion nearly $500K in royalties, which could potentially triple pending the judge’s determination.
Dominion, headquartered in Richmond, VA, filed the lawsuit last January, alleging infringement of two patents; one patent was dropped from the case before trial. The patent in this case was one of several patents protecting Dominion’s EDGE® product family, an industry-leading Volt/VAR optimization solution currently in use by 12 utilities in North America. In an amended complaint filed in October, Dominion alleged that Alstom incorporated the patented technology as part of a software platform it developed, called e-terradistribution. On July 1, the jury delivered its verdict, unanimously finding that (1) Alstom infringed on Dominion’s patent, and (2) Alstom willfully induced infringement through the installation of its distribution management system at a customer location. In addition, Alstom's petitions to challenge the validity of Dominion's two patents were denied by the USPTO.
For more information on this verdict, please click here.
The Blank Rome team was led by Jeffrey Sherwood and Salvatore Tamburo, and included Ji Young Park, Daniel Cardy, Charles Monterio, Gabriella Ziccarelli, and David Anderson.