A lawyer for Nova Chemicals Corp. on Thursday asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit to undo a $2.5 million award of attorney fees to Dow Chemical Co., its opponent in a long-running patent dispute, which the Canadian plastics and chemicals firm had accused of perpetrating fraud against the court.
In oral arguments before a three-judge panel of the appeals court, Nova attorney Donald R. Dunner argued that a Delaware federal judge improperly found his client’s independent action against Dow to be “exceptional” under U.S. Supreme Court precedent. Such a designation allows judges to award fees to winning side if a loser’s position is determined to be unreasonable.
