Star Tribune
Minneapolis patent infringement lawsuit had an unlikely star: fake Christmas trees
For more than a week this month, any Minnesotan yet to take down their Christmas tree had unlikely company: Senior U.S. District Judge Joan Ericksen’s 12th-floor courtroom in Minneapolis.
Nearly a dozen artificial Christmas trees at the center of a long-running patent infringement lawsuit adorned Erickson’s courtroom throughout a trial that ended with a jury delivering what’s thought to be the biggest award in any such case filed in Minnesota, finding that a Taiwanese maker of fake electric trees was owed more than $42 million.
The case marked a departure from the many other patent infringement lawsuits that Minneapolis attorney Patrick Arenz said he typically handles. Rather than cases more commonly concerning software products — which can be tricky to illustrate — jurors here could see and touch the product at issue.
This paid off, Arenz said: The first and only question from jurors during deliberation was to see and inspect the trees in question. Still, the case was not without logistical challenges.
“Just the space allocation was a huge issue,” Arenz said. “There were over 10 Christmas trees in the courtroom at all times. We just recently put our trees away at home and they take up a lot of space, even if you have just one or two. And when you think about having 10, it really does add up.”
The dispute between Taiwan-based Willis Electric Co. and Hong Kong-based Polygroup Limited over a U.S. patent made its way to Ericksen’s Minnesota courtroom at least in part because of the connection of a Maple Grove-based patent attorney named John Fonder, who filed the patent application on behalf of Willis Electric.
Johnny Chen, whose father founded the Willis Electric company that Chen now runs, invented the “One-Plug” tree in 2010 as an answer to the previous multistep process previously required to rig electric trees. Rather than needing to connect multiple plugs dangling from each tree section, Chen’s invention let users connect their trees in any rotational alignment with a single electrical connection running through the tree’s trunk.
According to the lawsuit, Polygroup learned of Chen’s design when it hit the shelves of Lowes stores in 2011. They did not finalize the molds for their own trees until after studying Chen’s “One Plug” design. They were aware of the Patent Office issuing a patent for the design, but continued selling a tree that used Chen’s now-patented invention, which they dubbed “Quick Set.”
Arenz told jurors that the decision to keep selling the “Quick Set” was as “lucrative as it was deliberate,” as Polygroup made more than $1 billion in sales of the trees that relied on Chen’s patented invention.
Messages were left seeking comment from Rachel Zimmerman Scobie, an attorney representing Polygroup.
During her arguments before jurors, Scobie instead accused Willis Electric of “trying to compete against Polygroup in the courtroom instead of the marketplace” and pointed to earlier designs for internal power trees as evidence that Chen tried to take credit for another person’s invention.
Yes, that tree was also on display throughout the trial.
Arenz acknowledged to jurors that Chen was not the first person to consider putting electricity inside the poles of artificial trees, rather it was his specific design of the tree that earned a patent.
Scobie argued that Polygroup developed its own design and did not learn about the “One-Plug” tree until after it completed its own work.
Arenz countered that Chen’s “One-Plug” design survived multiple rounds of examination at the patent office.
“We’re here because Polygroup will not respect the Patent Office no matter what,” Arenz told jurors. “It will not respect the United States patent laws no matter what. Polygroup deliberately used this patented technology.”
After more than five hours of deliberation, the jury found that Willis Electric proved “by a preponderance of the evidence” that Polygroup “directly or indirectly infringed” on its patent and that Polygroup did not prove that Willis Electric’s patent claim was invalid.
The award to Willis Electric: $42,494,772.
Star Tribune
Long Prairie, MN school board dismisses its superintendent, the latest controversy in this small town
LONG PRAIRIE, MINN. — The school district superintendent dressed up as the school mascot, Thor, on football nights. He read the graduation address in both English and Spanish. He even set up office hours in the cafeteria, granting easier approachability to students.
But now, two months into the school year, Daniel Ludvigson is gone. Or, rather, “on special assignment,” according to the terminology of the Long Prairie-Grey Eagle School Board, which voted 4-3 earlier this month to remove him as superintendent. The move came weeks after voting to not renew his contract, which expires at the end of the school year in June.
Four board members — two of whom voted to oust Ludvigson, including Board Chair Kelly Lemke — are up for re-election next week.
The dismissal is the latest blow in this central Minnesota community on the edge of the prairie. Over the last nine months, the town of 3,400 residents and seat of Todd County has lost its mayor, a city manager, two school board members, and now its superintendent.
Students walked out earlier this month in support of Ludvigson. Signs in support of Ludvigson can be seen across town on the lawns of apparent Democrats and Republicans alike. And last week, hundreds packed the American Legion off Hwy. 71 to eat beef sandwiches and sign support letters for Ludvigson, who only swung by to pick up his child for hockey practice.
In a time of great divide in America, this fight has nothing to do with politics.
“You’ve got Harris buttons and Trump hats side-by-side, arm-in-arm,” said Amanda Hinson, a former local newspaper reporter who is concerned the board is not being upfront about why they placed Ludvigson on special assignment. “We want transparency in our government.”
Lawn signs around Long Prairie, Minn., now include people weighing in on the dismissal of Superintendent Daniel Ludvigson by the school board. (Christopher Vondracek)
School board members say Ludvigson has repeatedly shown he is not ready for the prime time of a school district bigger than the one in central North Dakota he arrived from two years ago. They have twice disciplined Ludvigson, but did not state the reason for placing him on “special assignment,” beyond insinuating that staff are fearful to raise official complaints.
Rain and potentially heavy snow are on tap Thursday around the Twin Cities, just before families set out for Halloween trick-or-treating.
Temperatures were expected to drop throughout the day, creating conditions for flurries. A winter weather advisory is in effect from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. covering the Twin Cities metro area and parts of south-central Minnesota. Steady rain drenched the Twin Cities on Thursday, making for a soggy morning commute.
“As colder air begins to move in this morning, the rain will transition to heavy snow from west to east with snowfall rates of an inch per hour at times into early afternoon,” the National Weather Service in Chanhassen said in a weather advisory.
The Twin Cities and surrounding areas could get between 2 and 4 inches of snow, according to the weather service. The winter weather advisory is expected to affect Anoka, Chisago, Hennepin, Ramsey, Scott, Washington and Le Sueur counties.
It’s unclear how much of the snow will actually stick, with warm surface temperatures likely leading to melting on contact in many areas.
“Exact totals will depend on snowfall rate, surface temperatures, and melting — which increases uncertainty with the snow forecast,” the weather service said in an early Thursday briefing.
“Thundersnow possible!” the weather service emphasized.
The good news for Halloween revelers is that the snow and rain are expected to wrap up in time for trick-or-treating, though temperatures will remain in the 30s with a sharp windchill.
An off-duty Washington County sheriff’s deputy caused a head-on crash while under the influence of alcohol and injured a couple in the other vehicle, officials said.
The crash occurred about 10:40 a.m. Sunday in Afton on Hwy. 95 at Scenic Lane, the Minnesota State Patrol said.
Campbell Johnston Blair, 58, of Hastings, was heading north in his Subaru Crosstrek, crossed into the opposite lane and collided with a southbound Ford Expedition, the patrol said.
Blair and the other vehicle’s occupants, 38-year-old Erik Robert Sward and 36-year-old Heather Lynn Sward, both of Lake Elmo, were taken to Regions Hospital with non-critical injuries, according to the patrol.
The patrol noted the alcohol use by Blair was involved in the crash.
Blair, who was driving a private vehicle at the time of the crash while off-duty, has been a deputy with the Sheriff’s Office since 2020 and is currently assigned to our Court Security Unit.
The Sheriff’s Office has been asked for reaction to the crash involving one of its deputies.
Minnesota may get snow Thursday. Here’s how much more the Halloween Blizzard Of 1991 dropped.
Suspect “led us to the evidence” in Montana camper’s brutal killing, initially thought to have been bear attack
Long Prairie, MN school board dismisses its superintendent, the latest controversy in this small town
Minnesota may get snow Thursday. Here’s how much more the Halloween Blizzard Of 1991 dropped.
Suspect “led us to the evidence” in Montana camper’s brutal killing, initially thought to have been bear attack