Opinion ID: 763547
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Antitrust Counterclaim

Text: 21 The district court dismissed Besten's antitrust counterclaim with prejudice because the court concluded that Besten had suffered no antitrust damages. This conclusion was based on the court's holdings that purchasers of folding, locking corner keys from Allmetal had an implied license to practice the patented linear method, and that Besten consequently was permitted to sell its linear extruder machines to those corner key purchasers for use in practicing that method. See GED I, 929 F.Supp. at 230. On appeal, both parties argue that the district court erred in dismissing this counterclaim because no discovery on that issue had been performed. We affirm the district court's dismissal because, assuming that all of Besten's relevant allegations are true, GED cannot have any antitrust liability. 22 In its antitrust counterclaim, Besten alleged that GED had elsewhere brought suit against Windsor Window Company, a window maker that was using Besten's linear extrusion machines to manufacture spacer frame assemblies, and Besten, asserting infringement and inducement to infringe, respectively, of the '582 method patent. Besten also alleged that GED had threatened analogous infringement suits against other companies that were using, or considering using, Besten's linear extruding machines to manufacture spacer frames. Besten alleged that these actual and threatened patent infringement lawsuits by GED violated Section 2 of the Sherman Act and the corresponding West Virginia statute. 23 A patent owner who brings a lawsuit to enforce the statutory right to exclude others from making, using or selling the claimed invention is exempt from the antitrust laws, even though such a suit may have an anticompetitive effect, unless the infringement defendant proves (1) that the asserted patent was obtained through knowing and willful fraud within the meaning of Walker Process Equipment, Inc. v. Food Machinery & Chemical Corp., 382 U.S. 172, 177, 86 S.Ct. 347, 15 L.Ed.2d 247 (1965), or (2) that the infringement suit was a mere sham to cover what is actually no more than an attempt to interfere directly with the business relationships of a competitor, Eastern R.R. Presidents Conference v. Noerr Motor Freight, Inc., 365 U.S. 127, 144, 81 S.Ct. 523, 5 L.Ed.2d 464 (1961). Nobelpharma AB v. Implant Innovations, Inc., 141 F.3d 1059, 1068, 46 USPQ2d 1097, 1104 (Fed.Cir.1998) (internal quotation omitted). Here, Besten did not allege that GED obtained the '582 method patent through knowing and willful fraud upon the Patent Office, or that GED's actual or threatened infringement suits were sham litigations. Therefore, where Besten's counterclaim was grounded only on GED's attempts to enforce its right to exclude others from practicing the methods claimed in its '582 patent, there is no reasonable possibility that the counterclaim could succeed. Consequently, we affirm the district court's dismissal of this counterclaim with prejudice.