SECOND CIRCUIT’S FINDING THAT PLAINTIFF WAIVED THE RIGHT TO ARBITRATE IS BINDING ON THE DISTRICT COURT
After Interdigital, Inc. (“Interdigital”) brought two suits against Nokia Corporation (“Nokia”) for patent infringement before the International Trade Commission and in the District of Delaware, Nokia petitioned the Southern District of New York for injunctive and declaratory relief and to compel arbitration pursuant to an arbitration clause contained in two contracts that allegedly licensed the patents to Nokia. The New York district court granted Nokia’s requested injunctive relief prohibiting Interdigital from proceeding against Nokia prior to the completion of arbitration proceedings and issued an order compelling arbitration, but the Second Circuit reversed the injunction and order compelling arbitration, concluding that Nokia waived its right to arbitrate its license claim through prior litigation and remanded the case to the district court. Upon remand, the district court stated that the Second Circuit’s finding that Nokia had waived its right to arbitrate is binding on the court and dismissed with prejudice the counts for injunctive relief and an order to compel arbitration. In regards to the requested declaratory relief that Nokia and its affiliates are licensed to the asserted patents, the court concluded that Nokia’s claim was a compulsory counterclaim and, thus, dismissed the third claim deferring to the earlier-filed action in the District of Delaware for the resolution of the claims. Nokia Corp. v. Interdigital, Inc., Case No. 08-1507 (USDC S.D.N.Y. Mar. 5, 2009).
This post written by Dan Crisp.
