dbest product, Inc. markets and sells the Trolley Dolly® folding shopping carts covered by U.S. Patent No. 9,233,700 (“the ‘700 Patent”). dbest discovered an Amazon seller offering knock-offs of the Trolley Dolly® carts under the brand “Winkeep” and complained to Amazon of patent infringement. In response, the seller, Guangzhou Yucheng Trading Co, Ltd. (“GYT”) sued dbest in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, asking the Court to rule that its carts do not infringe the ’700 patent and that the patent is invalid. In Spring 2022, Orbit IP persuaded the Court to construe the disputed patent terms favorably for dbest.
In December, the Court granted dbest’s motions for summary judgment that GYT’s shopping carts infringed the ’700 patent and rejected GYT’s non-infringement and invalidity arguments. In the same order, the Court granted dbest’s motions to exclude GYT’s technical expert and denied GYT’s motions to exclude dbest’s experts. The only issues left for trial were the amount of dbest’s damages and whether GYT’s infringement was willful.
In March 2023, the case was tried to a jury, which, after deliberating for about an hour, returned a verdict of willful infringement and awarded dbest all the damages it had requested for the infringing sales. dbest’s trial victory was featured on Law360. In May 2023, the Court further awarded dbest: (i) treble damages because of GYT’s willful infringement, (ii) attorney’s fees because it found the case exceptional, (iii) costs and interest, and (iv) a broad injunction that covers not only GYT but all others acting in concert in selling the same infringing products on Amazon and on Walmart.com.
Orbit IP obtained a terrific result for dbest, effectively stopping the sale of knock-off carts on Amazon and Walmart.
The Orbit IP team was led by partners Ehab M. Samuel, David A. Randall, and Paul G. Novak. The case is dbest products, Inc. v. Guangzhou Yucheng Trading Co, Ltd., U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, No. 2:21-cv-04758-JVS-JDE.