{"id":7062142,"date":"2026-09-20T14:42:01","date_gmt":"2026-09-20T14:42:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/business\/legal\/objective-baselessness-in-carnegie-v-fenix-diamonds\/"},"modified":"2026-09-20T14:42:01","modified_gmt":"2026-09-20T14:42:01","slug":"objective-baselessness-in-carnegie-v-fenix-diamonds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7062142","title":{"rendered":"Objective Baselessness in Carnegie v. Fenix Diamonds"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

\n

by Dennis Crouch<\/p>\n

The Federal Circuit has affirmed a $3.2 million fee-and-expense award against the Carnegie Institution of Washington and its now-bankrupt licensee M7D (the company behind WD Lab Grown Diamonds<\/a>) following their failed infringement suit against Fenix Diamonds. Carnegie Inst. of Wash. v. Fenix Diamonds LLC<\/a><\/i>, Nos. 2024-1804, -1824 (Fed. Cir. Sept. 17, 2026) (nonprecedential).\u00a0 The panel held that District Judge Rakoff did not abuse his discretion in finding the case exceptional under 35 U.S.C. \u00a7 285, because plaintiffs’ infringement positions became objectively baseless in July 2020, about a month after Fenix produced its Indian supplier’s manufacturing evidence. The court also affirmed an inherent-power award of expert fees<\/em> and other non-taxable expenses, and it held Carnegie, the patent owner, jointly and severally liable with M7D for the full amount.<\/p>\n

If you have been following fee-awards in patent cases, you might ask something like: Why is a 2026 fee decision still talking about objective baselessness?\u00a0 The Supreme Court eliminated it as a requirement for \u00a7 285 fees in 2014.<\/p>\n

Although fees can still be awarded even if the case was not objectively baseless, the standard survives because it is a clear standard that is easy to review and is certainly enough to support a fee award. In this case, the panel expressly declined to reach Judge Rakoff’s alternative finding that plaintiffs litigated unreasonably — a question that involves much more nuance — since it was able to affirm on objectively baseless.<\/p>\n

An interesting footnote in the case suggests that the patentee might have actually had a good argument to raise – but failed to do so.\u00a0 The court goes on to conclude that the baselessness inquiry is limited to arguments the patentee actually made, not those that could have been pursued.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Dennis Crouch The Federal Circuit has affirmed a $3.2 million fee-and-expense award against the Carnegie Institution of Washington and its now-bankrupt licensee M7D (the company behind WD Lab Grown Diamonds) following their failed infringement suit against Fenix Diamonds. Carnegie Inst. of Wash. v. Fenix Diamonds LLC, Nos. 2024-1804, -1824 (Fed. Cir. Sept. 17, 2026) […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7062143,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[97],"tags":[224116,7920,4824,92783,17741,11252],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-7062142","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-legal","tag-baselessness","tag-carnegie","tag-diamonds","tag-fenix","tag-objective","tag-paid"],"yoast_head":"\nObjective Baselessness in Carnegie v. Fenix Diamonds - Som2ny Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7062142\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Objective Baselessness in Carnegie v. Fenix Diamonds - Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"by Dennis Crouch The Federal Circuit has affirmed a $3.2 million fee-and-expense award against the Carnegie Institution of Washington and its now-bankrupt licensee M7D (the company behind WD Lab Grown Diamonds) following their failed infringement suit against Fenix Diamonds. Carnegie Inst. of Wash. v. Fenix Diamonds LLC, Nos. 2024-1804, -1824 (Fed. Cir. 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