Winston & Strawn Blocks Infringing Ryobi Garage Door Openers

Winston & Strawn Blocks Infringing Ryobi Garage Door Openers; Obtains Treble Damages, Attorneys’ Fees and Costs for CGI

On May 23, 2018, following an August 30, 2017 jury verdict finding that Ryobi and Techtronic Industries (TTI) willfully infringed two of the Chamberlain Group’s (CGI) patents, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois granted CGI’s request for a permanent injunction blocking the sale of Ryobi’s connected garage door openers (models GD200 and GD200A) and similar garage door openers until 2023.

“The court recognized CGI’s innovation in the areas of safety, security, and connectivity,” remarked CGI’s General Counsel Susan Bell. “It is rewarding to see our decades of investment, and the years of hard work by inventor and long-time CGI employee Jim Fitzgibbon, recognized.”  

Noting that TTI did nothing to avoid colliding “head-on” with CGI’s “broad GDO-related patent portfolio,” the court exercised its judgment to treble the jury’s damages award, awarding CGI over $11M in enhanced damages. Citing TTI’s attempts to evade the Preliminary Injunction obtained by CGI, the court also awarded CGI attorneys’ fees and costs. “[T]his case was not close,” the court noted. “TTI lost on every issue at trial after less than two hours of jury deliberation.”

“We are pleased the court fully supported the jury’s verdict. As the court recognized, ‘TTI’s infringing behavior has spanned the whole of TTI’s participation in the GDO [Garage Door Opener] marketplace.’ By having faith in our court system and our jury, CGI was able to protect its investment and can now reinvest into tomorrow’s technology.”

The trial team was led by Winston partners George Lombardi and Michael Rueckheim and Fish principal Ben Elacqua, and included Winston associate Matt McCullough, as well as Fish associate Malena Stiteler. The strategy both during trial and for post-trial motions was guided and led by the General Counsel of the Chamberlain Group, Susan Bell.