However, the Federal Circuit overturned that decision, ruling that Judge Jackson had misapplied legal standards by relying on six “red flags” without clarifying their weight. The appellate court found that:
- A prior Federal Circuit ruling invalidating a similar patent was not directly applicable to Realtime’s case.
- Judge Jackson failed to explain the significance of other cases involving Realtime’s patents.
- A letter from Dish’s attorneys did not sufficiently put Realtime on notice that its claims were meritless.
Following the remand, Judge Jackson acknowledged that only one “red flag” remained, which he concluded was insufficient to justify a $3.9 million fee award.
Judge Rejects Dish’s Arguments on “Adverse” Precedent
Dish had pointed to previous unfavorable rulings against Realtime, including decisions in Realtime Adaptive Streaming LLC v. Google LLC and Realtime Adaptive Streaming LLC v. Netflix Inc. However, Realtime argued that those cases shouldn’t carry much weight because Dish waited too long to cite them.
