T&K Helps Southwest Airlines Win Another East Texas Patent Infringement Verdict

Friday, April 13, 2012
Tags:  Thompson & Knight LLP | Dallas
Thompson & Knight attorneys Max Ciccarelli, J. Michael Heinlen, and Gary R. Sorden have obtained another courtroom defense win for Dallas-based Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE: LUV) in an East Texas patent infringement case.

The Thompson & Knight team from the firm’s Dallas office represented AirTran Airways Inc. in the trial heard by jurors before the Hon. Leonard Davis in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas in Tyler. The case is CEATS Inc. v. Continental Airlines Inc., et al., No. 6:10-CV-120.
In April 2010, Tyler-based CEATS sued several airlines and ticketing companies based on claims that a series of CEATS patents covered mouse-over technology used in online interactive seat maps.
AirTran Airways was among the listed defendants when Southwest Airlines acquired the company in May 2011. Southwest Airlines soon asked Thompson & Knight to take over the defense of AirTran. Testimony in the trial began on March 12 and ended on March 20. After almost 10 hours of deliberations, the jury came back with a defense verdict in favor of Southwest Airlines and the other defendant companies after finding that the asserted claims of the four asserted patents were invalid.
CEATS was seeking almost $100 million from the various defendants in the lawsuit. The Thompson & Knight team and law firms representing other defendants collaborated on the trial of the case.
“The trial was unique in several ways, including the fact that Judge Davis experimented with a new procedure that let the jurors submit questions to the witnesses,” noted Ciccarelli, lead trial counsel for AirTran. “I think the parties generally agreed that it helped to keep the jury focused and involved in the case.”
Last year, Thompson & Knight also obtained a patent victory for Southwest Airlines against another plaintiff seeking to exploit its patents in Parallel Networks LLC v. Abercrombie & Fitch, et al., No. 6:10-cv-111, which also was heard in Judge Davis’ courtroom. In that case, Thompson & Knight spearheaded an early summary judgment process that resulted in a finding of non-infringement for nearly 100 defendants, including Southwest Airlines.