Bose Corp. (Framingham, MA) has sued Lightspeed Aviation, Inc. (Lake Oswego, OR) seeking a declaratory judgment that Lightspeed’s Patent No. 7,215,766, directed to aviation headsets, is not infringed by Bose and invalid.
Bose and Lightspeed really don’t get along. Counting a Bose-instituted re-examination, this is now the sixth action between the companies since 2002. They are: one trademark case filed by Lightspeed in Oregon, one patent case filed by Lightspeed in Oregon, one patent case filed by Bose in Massachusetts, one false marking case filed by Lightspeed in Oregon, the re-examination (ex parte) on the ‘766 patent instigated by Bose, and this case.
It’s not as if I’ve been tracking these disputes, they are laid out in this complaint, along with Lightspeed cases against others. Why you may ask? To establish declaratory judgment jurisdiction. The complaint only asserts one exchange between Lightspeed and Bose regarding the ‘766 patent, a conversation between executives in July 2007. The previous cases are mentioned to show Lightspeed’s litigious nature.
So why sue now? Because Bose was scheduled to start selling a certain line of headsets the Monday after the Friday complaint was filed. According to the complaint, the new headset, combined with the history between the parties and Lightspeed’s general love of the courts, gives Bose a reasonable apprehension of suit and creates an actual case or controversy to establish DJ jurisdiction.
Bose Corp. v. Lightspeed Aviation, Inc., 10-11241-GAO (D. Mass. July 23, 2010)
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