On November 22, 2021 the United States District Court for the District of Wyoming granted Kutak Rock client RTG Parts, LLC (“RTG”) a stay pending inter partes review of the asserted patent at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board of the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

In early 2021 Plaintiff Schmeisser GmbH sued RTG in the District of Wyoming for patent infringement claiming the asserted patent covered a type of firearm magazine known as a “quad-stack” magazine. However, quad-stack magazines were known as early as World War II and were more recently used by militaries in the former Soviet Union. Kutak Rock attorneys Jason S. Jackson and Sara Gillette located a number of Russian-language prior art references and deciphered them with the help of Kutak Rock attorney Anna S. Forman, who is a native Russian speaker. RTG filed a petition for inter partes review on October 21, 2021 on the basis of that Russian prior art.

Robert Johnson, CEO of RTG, remarked “We are grateful for the tremendous efforts by Jason and Sara to protect our interest. We look forward to invalidating Schmeisser’s patent at the PTAB.”

“Kutak Rock’s ability to work across multiple offices and access multiple talents, including critical foreign-language skills, was key to helping our client file a robust petition for inter partes review that has shifted the litigation landscape in our client’s favor” said Jason S. Jackson.

The case is Schmeisser GmbH v. AC-Unity d.o.o et al, Case No. 0:21-cv-0002 (D. Wyo.). The asserted patent is U.S. 10,866,045. A copy of the petition for inter partes review can be found here.

Jason S. Jackson is a partner and head of the firm’s Post-Grant Proceedings Group, which handles cases before the PTAB. He has also been counsel in dozens of patent infringement suits in U.S. district courts around the country.

Sara Gillette is of counsel in the firm’s Kansas City office and is a registered patent attorney devoted to protecting the intellectual property interest of individuals and companies.

Anna S. Forman is a litigator in the Omaha’s commercial trial practice group. Her practice focuses on representing clients in complex commercial and business litigation disputes. She also practices in the areas of real estate litigation, professional negligence defense and insurance defense.