Winston Shows Two-Way Media a One-Way Street to Defeat

In a major victory on November 1, 2017, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed a significant trial court decision that a team of Winston & Strawn lawyers obtained on behalf of Verizon in 2016. In that case in the District of Delaware, the Winston team, along with counsel for co-defendant Comcast, won judgment on the pleadings that four patents related to real-time streaming media were not directed to patent-eligible subject matter and therefore invalid. This ruling prevented plaintiff Two-Way Media from pursuing its claims against Verizon’s accused streaming media services (e.g., watching television on your PC or mobile device). In its November 1 ruling, the Federal Circuit affirmed the district court’s decision. The court agreed that the claims of the patents-at-issue were directed to an abstract idea and were missing an inventive concept. This victory is especially significant because Two-Way Media had previously won a substantial jury verdict against one of Verizon’s competitors on these same patents, a fact Two-Way Media repeatedly touted in its complaint and briefing. 

The Winston team was led by Partner Kurt Mathas.

As a result of this victory, Winston’s legal team was recognized as a “Legal Lion” in “Law360’s Weekly Verdict: Legal Lions & Lambs” on November 2, 2017.