Lu v. Hyper Bicycles, Inc. (D. Mass. 20-cv-11739).

Fa-Hsing Lu sued Hyper Bicycles in 2020, accusing Hyper of infringing a pair of design patents relating to the ornamental design of a bicycle designed to look like a motocross motorcycle.  Following a claim construction in which functional elements of the claimed design were excluded, summary judgment was granted in favor of Hyper Bicycles, in no small part due to Lu having failed to take meaningful discovery.  In September, Judge Gorton awarded Hyper Bicycles $56,000 in attorneys fees, again in large part because Lu had failed to propound any written discovery requests, notice any depositions, identify any experts, or otherwise attempt to move the case forward.  Judge Gorton did not determine the case to be exceptional from the outset, but determined that it met that criteria following a January 2022 admission in an interrogatory response that Lu had no records identifying any products of Hyper that infringed the patents.  With respect to the fees requested,  Lu had objected to the request for fees related to time spent travelling to a mediation, which Judge Gorton found to be clearly compensable, but agreed that the overall amount sought – $86,000 – was excessive, and accordingly ordered a reduced amount be paid.