Court Dismisses Inventorship/Copyright Claim Against NTP

Oren Tavory v. NTP, Inc., E.D. Va. (3:06–CV–628), July 17, 2007

Not long after NTP obtained a $612.5 million settlement against RIM, Tavory filed suit in the E.D. Va., asking to be joined as an inventor with respect to NTP's "BlackBerry" patents, and also alleged copyright infringement and unjust enrichment.

After dismissing the claim of unjust enrichment, the Court granted Summary Judgment in favor of NTP on inventorship and copyright infringement. Needless to say, the Court was not moved by Tavory's story:

There are few coincidences in life, and the timing of Tavory’s assertions is far too convenient to avoid suspicion. Not only did the Plaintiff wait until after the death of Mr. Campana, who would surely have been a material witness, to stake his claim, the copyright registration was not filed until after NTP had entered into a nine-figure settlement with respect to the patents Tavory says infringe his rights. Despite these serious infirmities, the most damning evidence has been rendered by the Plaintiff himself. He has been deposed twice. On the first occasion, in 2002, Tavory testified that he could not remember whether he wrote the Push Software at Mr. Campana’s direction, or to what extent he was involved in the authorship of the source code. (Pl.’s 2002 Dep. passim.) Four years later, the Plaintiff sat for another deposition, this time in connection with the present matter. In spite of the fact that it was then 2006, and that he was testifying about events that had happened 16 years previously, Tavory’s memory was much clearer.

View/download the opinion here (link)