Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. v. General Electric Co.
District Court, W.D. Arkansas · 2010-08-23 · cited 6×
Mitsubishi sued General Electric, alleging that GE violated Section 2 of the Sherman Act by monopolizing and attempting to monopolize the U.S. market for variable speed wind turbines through fraudulently obtaining five patents and enforcing them via sham litigation in ITC and federal district court proceedings; Mitsubishi also brought related claims under the Lanham Act and for tortious interference with business relations. GE moved to dismiss the complaint for failure to state a claim or, alternatively, to stay the action until the underlying patent infringement cases are resolved. The court denied the motion to dismiss, concluding that Mitsubishi's allegations of Walker Process fraud and sham litigation were adequately pled under the applicable standards, but granted the stay because the antitrust and related claims depend on a determination that GE's patent enforcement actions were objectively baseless, which will be resolved in the ongoing infringement litigation.