Winston Drives Hyundai to Victory - Again!

Winston & Strawn’s appellate and critical motions group has secured another major win for client Hyundai Motor America. After Hyundai lost a multi-million-dollar patent infringement judgment to a patent holding company controlled by well-known "patent troll" Erich Spangenberg, Hyundai retained Winston's appellate team to handle the appeal to the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. On May 17, that Court unanimously reversed the judgment and invalidated the patent. The victory saved Hyundai more than $70 million in damages, running royalties and interest.

The invalidated patent had been used by Spangenberg and his companies as the basis for dozens of lawsuits against hundreds of companies, and yielded settlements rumored to be worth tens of millions of dollars. This was the first time any defendant successfully established on appeal the invalidity of one of Spangenberg's patents.