Boston, MA 10/17/2013 (wallstreetpr) – A patent lawsuit that would have seen The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) and two other retailers fined $250 million for infringement has collapsed. A federal judge in Marshall, Texas had refused to allow for a delay of the trail so that the accusing company Alexsam could find a replacement lawyer. For this reason, the case could not be sustained and flopped.
Alexsam had enjoined HD in a suit claiming violation of branded gift card patent. The case had been dragging on since 2010. The case was successfully launched as the accused retailers failed to snip it in the bud.
The patents in question were issued between 1999 and 2001. They cover systems activation and recharge stored-value cards like phone cards and gift cards. The other retailers enjoined with HD in the case were Toys R Us Inc. and J.C. Penney Co. The latter is a listed company in the New York Securities Exchange market.
So what caused the collapse of this patent case? Apparently Alexsam’s lawyers had withdrawn from representing it in the patent case. It sought time to find a new lawyer, but the court couldn’t grant that delay request. In effect, it has lost the case. It means that HD and the two other would not be liable for the compensation of $250 million sought by Alexsam.
However, HD has announced that it will not be seeking compensations for its time wasted in the case. This is a resolution entered by the three retailers against which Alexsam had accused of patent violation. However, if the same case comes up again, then the retailers would seek sanctions and attorneys fees from Alexsam.
The case had initially been scheduled to commence on October 22. The $250 million compensation sought by Alexsam was a combined sum from the three retailers.
The collapse of this case has not only saved HD from a potential profit loss, but has also upped confidence among its investors. HD is one of the few healthy stocks that have not had disappointing performance lately. The home improvement retailer has $107.79 billion in market value as of Thursday, October 17.
