Douglas McSwane and Matt Rowan, serving as local counsel with Vinson & Elkins, represented Rapidpay, LLC, Business Capital Corporation, First Funds, LLC, Merchant Money Tree, Inc., Reach Financial, LLC, and Fast Transact, Inc., d/b/a Simple Cash in two patent infringement cases filed in the Eastern District of Texas. Vinson and Elkins’ lead lawyers were Bill Schuurman, Joseph Gray, and Brian Buss. Judge Davis presided over both cases.
The first case was a bench trial and Judge Davis invalidated the patent on both anticipation and obviousness. This was a direct application of the revised standard for non-obviousness of a patent as set by the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in KSR v. Teleflex earlier in 2007. Judge Davis dismissed the second case that alleged infringement of the same patent and was filed by the same plaintiff, thus saving all parties involved the time, effort, and expense of court costs and trial preparation.
