Gust, Inc. v. Alphacap Ventures, LLC
District Judge Denise L. Cote
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AlphaCap Ventures LLC (ACV) sought a settlement from Gust Inc. while avoiding defense of its business methods patents (AlphaCap Patents) claiming computer-implemented methods of managing information related to "equity and debt financing" through use of "data collection templates" and "semi-homogenous profiles." Despite ACV's unilateral Covenant Not to Sue, Gust pursued its claim that the AlphaCap Patents were invalid in light of Alice Corp. Pty. Ltd. v. CLS Bank Int'l, 134 S. Ct. 2347, and that ACV and its counsel pursued litigation in bad faith. On Dec. 8, 2016 the court awarded Gust $508,343 in attorney's fees and costs, and prejudgment interest, under 35 USC 285. District court denied ACV reconsideration of its Dec. 8, 2016 decision in Gust Inc. v. AlphaCap Ventures LLC (Gust), holding ACV's counsel jointly and severally liable under 28 USC 1927 for vexatiously multiplying the proceedings. Its Jan. 3, 2017 motion presented new arguments that could have been, but were not, made in opposition to Gust's fee award motion, or repeated arguments that were previously made and rejected. Among other things, the court rejected ACV's claim that Gust erred in awarding fees under Patent Act 285.