Pop Top Corp v. Rakuten Kobo Inc.

Background

Rakuten Kobo Inc. previously obtained summary judgment of noninfringement on June 25, 2021. Kobo then moved for attorneys’ fees and non-taxable expenses under 35 U.S.C. § 285, the Patent Act’s provision allowing reasonable fees to the prevailing party in an exceptional case, and under the court’s inherent authority. Kobo also asked the court to hold Pop Top’s counsel jointly liable under 28 U.S.C. § 1927.

In an earlier order, the court granted Kobo’s fee motion in part and denied it in part. The court held that the case was exceptional because Pop Top had not identified evidence supporting its arguments or conducted discovery, demonstrating the substantive weakness of its claims. The court found that an award under § 285 was warranted, but denied Kobo’s requests to hold Pop Top and its counsel jointly liable for the fees and to recover non-taxable expert-witness fees. The court deferred determining the amount of the § 285 award because Kobo’s initial descriptions of its attorneys’ work were too general.

Fee Calculation

Kobo submitted supplemental evidence and time records for review. It sought $297,956.43, including $274,721.43 requested in its original motion and an additional $23,235 for finalizing and filing the opening fee brief and preparing the reply brief.

The court applied the lodestar method, which calculates a fee by multiplying the reasonable hours worked by a reasonable hourly rate. Kobo sought payment for work by Joshua Raskin, Justin MacLean, Vimal Kapadia, and Katie Albanese. The requested hourly rates were $866.44, $632.29, $538.96, and $465.75, respectively. The court found those rates reasonable based on the attorneys’ experience and the rates charged for comparable work in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Kobo requested payment for 124.6 hours by Raskin, 64.1 hours by MacLean, 141.4 hours by Kapadia, 111.7 hours by Albanese, and an additional 32.1 hours related to the fee motion. The court found the hourly rates and billed hours reasonable. In reaching that conclusion, it considered counsel’s explanation that the attorneys avoided block billing, assigned work based on experience, held meetings to prevent duplication, reviewed and reduced excessive or unnecessary entries, and excluded paralegal time for administrative tasks.

Disposition

The court awarded Kobo $274,721.43 in attorneys’ fees under 35 U.S.C. § 285. It denied Kobo’s request for the additional $23,235 because Kobo should have included those fees in its original motion, including an estimate for reply-brief work. By waiting to request the additional amount, Kobo prevented Pop Top from objecting to those hours. Pop Top was ordered to pay the awarded amount within 30 days of the order.