Siding with attorneys from Brooks Kushman, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California and Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (“Federal Circuit”) ended a long battle on Ameranth’s menu patents. The Court also awarded Domino’s $2.7M in attorneys’ fees and costs.
In August 2011, Ameranth, Inc. (“Ameranth”) brought suit for patent infringement against Domino’s and over thirty (30) other defendants on two patents relating to menu generation and synchronization of data for mobile devices. Two additional related patents were subsequently asserted, one each in 2012 and 2013. Ameranth asserted that Domino’s online and mobile ordering system infringed the patents.
The case had significant ramifications for all 30+ defendants – seeking royalties for every food order and reservation made through each defendants’ online/mobile system. Ameranth sought over $100 million in damages from Domino’s alone, as well as future royalty payments on all food electronic food orders placed on Domino’s system.
Early in the case, our litigation team filed petitions for Covered Business Method (CBM) review of the patents before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (“PTAB”). As a result of the CBM petitions, all challenged claims on three of Ameranth’s asserted patents were found unpatentable by either the PTAB or the Federal Circuit. Our litigation team then successfully convinced the District Court to grant summary judgment of unpatentability on all asserted claims of the last remaining patent. This was later affirmed by the Federal Circuit and a petition to the Supreme Court was also denied.
On remand, our litigation team moved to declare the case exceptional and for an award to Domino’s of its attorneys’ fees/costs in defending the case, including the CBMs and Federal Circuit appeals. On June 22, 2021, the Court granted Domino’s motion and awarded $2.7M in attorneys’ fees to Domino’s.
As a result of the efforts of Brooks Kushman, Domino’s was able to avoid a substantial damages award and future royalties on Domino’s very successful online/mobile ordering platform. Moreover, the Court has awarded Domino’s the attorneys’ fees it spent in defending the action.
On September 12, 2023, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (the “Federal Circuit”) affirmed a 2021 decision by Judge Sabraw of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California granting Domino’s , $2.7 million in attorneys’ fees from Ameranth. The Federal Circuit also upheld the invalidation of other claims brought by Ameranth against additional defendants.
Brooks Kushman shareholders
Frank Angileri,
Thomas Cunningham, and
John Rondini led the team that resulted in this favorable decision for Domino’s and all other parties involved.
