A recent order on 2/26/2007 in Apotex v. EON Labs (NYEDC 1-cv-00482) presents a fly-on-the-wallpaper view of a patent case that should have terminated much earlier than it did. In substantive issues, the patent in suit was found invalid since the applicant filed a similar application in New Zealand more than one year before filing the US counterpart. This issue was discovered and raised during the bench trial, much to everyone’s surprise. Whereupon Judge Cohn said, “Tell me about New Zealand. I always wanted to go there.” Apotex's case then fell apart.
There are other interesting stories noted in the 35 page order. One is a rare public glimpse into the costs of patent litigation. EON, the defendant, sought compensation from the plaintiff for the following:
EON's SUMMARY OF EXPENSES
Expense
Associate Charges/Professional Services
$51,991.98
Car Service $11,148.62
Computer Services $2,426.85
Court Reporters $70,162.30
Expert Witnesses $438,057.07
Express Mail $64.60
Fax Charges $1,460.85
Federal Express $4,299.60
In-House Photocopies $38,343.75
LexisNexis $28,133.12
Meals $2,977.30
Outside Photocopies $60,062.55
Pacer $92.63
Process Servers $426.00
Translations $1,880.98
Transportation - Local (taxi, subway, etc. $392.52
Travel $25,827.34
Trial Supplies $471.42
Westlaw $56,094.63
Total $794,314.11
EON'S SUMMARY OF ATTORNEY AND PARALEGAL HOURS WORKED
Stage of Litigation -Hours Worked - Attorney Hours -Paralegal Hours
Preparation of Responsive Pleadings
45.16 43.16 2.00
Discovery 7633.13 5426.30 2206.83
Principal Motions 1877.86 1664.14 213.72
Preparation for Trial 2622.70 1949.85 672.85
Trial 901.95 452.05 449.90
Post Trial 32.25 29.25 3.00
Aggregate Attorney Hours: 9564.75 (24 attorneys)
Aggregate Paralegal Hours: 3548.30 (10 paralegals)
(As the disclaimer on TV dietary supplement ads goes, ‘your results may vary.’)
EON requested $4,435,656.00. The Court reduced the amount 30% to $3,104,959.20. This is only one data point and is insufficient to generalize about the costs of patent litigation.