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Law360 (July 1, 2020, 4:48 PM EDT ) Samsung and patent adversary Image Processing Technologies said Wednesday that they have settled a lawsuit over face detection technology, averting a July 6 jury trial before U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap, who earlier this week refused to delay the proceeding despite Texas' spike in coronavirus cases.
Samsung and Image Processing Technologies' settlement comes after a judge said postponing a trial in the case would be unfair to the South Korean smartphone maker. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
"All matters in controversy between the parties have been settled, in principle," the two parties announced in court papers Wednesday. They also asked the court to freeze all deadlines for 30 days so they can file follow-up paperwork.
The parties did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
IPT had argued over the weekend that jurors distracted by virus-related worry would not provide a good foundation for a fair trial. IPT lawyer Henry Bunsow also cited the ages of several lawyers and the fact that they would have to travel through hard-hit Texas cities to get to Marshall.
But the judge, who had already granted two delays since April, was unmoved. Samsung's witnesses and corporate cadre had already arrived in Marshall from South Korea and had been in quarantine, the judge said Monday, and a delay — which could last months, if not longer — would be unfair to Samsung.
Also on Monday, Texas' Supreme Court extended a prohibition on jury trials by 30 days, through Sept. 1.
Several federal courts in Texas have responded to the recent surge of COVID-19 cases in the state and region with new building closures and trial delays.
On Friday, U.S. District Judge Lee Rosenthal, chief judge of the Southern District of Texas, mandated closure of her district's courthouse. The Western District of Texas won't hold jury trials in July and is likely to extend that order another month, Chief U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia told Law360 on Monday. And in the Northern District of Texas, Chief Judge Barbara M.G. Lynn pushed jury trials back to July 17 at the earliest and signaled another extension was imminent.
Judge Lynn had presided over a criminal jury trial June 1-3 with a three-round, socially-distanced jury selection process. Jurors sat in the courtroom's observation gallery and witnesses testified from the jury box. A second courtroom was reserved for jury deliberations and a third for public attendance on a video stream.
The patent-in-suit is U.S. Patent No. 6,959,293.
IPT is represented by S. Calvin Capshaw and Elizabeth DeRieux of Capshaw DeRieux LLP and Henry Bunsow, Denise De Mory, Michael Zachary, Corey Johanningmeier, Nicholas Mancuso and Hillary Bunsow of Bunsow De Mory LLP.
Samsung is represented by Mark Samuels, Ryan Yagura, Nicholas Whilt, Brian Cook, Clarence Rowland, Darin Snyder and Marc Pensabene of O'Melveny & Myers LLP and Michael Jones of Potter Minton.
The case is Image Processing Technologies LLC v. Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. et al., case number 2:20-cv-00050, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas.
--Additional reporting by Dorothy Atkins, Michelle Casady, Ryan Davis and Daniel Siegal. Editing by Steven Edelstone.
For a reprint of this article, please contact reprints@law360.com.
