Filed: Jan. 15, 2014
Latest Update: Mar. 02, 2020
Summary: NOT FOR PUBLICATION UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FILED FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT JAN 15 2014 MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK U.S. COURT OF APPEALS INTERMEC, INC., No. 12-35738 Plaintiff - Appellee, D.C. No. 2:11-cv-00165-JCC v. MEMORANDUM* INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION, Defendant - Appellant. INTERMEC, INC., No. 12-35743 Plaintiff - Appellant, D.C. No. 2:11-cv-00165-JCC v. INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION, Defendant - Appellee. Appeal from the United States District Court for the We
Summary: NOT FOR PUBLICATION UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FILED FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT JAN 15 2014 MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK U.S. COURT OF APPEALS INTERMEC, INC., No. 12-35738 Plaintiff - Appellee, D.C. No. 2:11-cv-00165-JCC v. MEMORANDUM* INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION, Defendant - Appellant. INTERMEC, INC., No. 12-35743 Plaintiff - Appellant, D.C. No. 2:11-cv-00165-JCC v. INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION, Defendant - Appellee. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Wes..
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NOT FOR PUBLICATION
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FILED
FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT JAN 15 2014
MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK
U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
INTERMEC, INC., No. 12-35738
Plaintiff - Appellee, D.C. No. 2:11-cv-00165-JCC
v.
MEMORANDUM*
INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
MACHINES CORPORATION,
Defendant - Appellant.
INTERMEC, INC., No. 12-35743
Plaintiff - Appellant, D.C. No. 2:11-cv-00165-JCC
v.
INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
MACHINES CORPORATION,
Defendant - Appellee.
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Western District of Washington
John C. Coughenour, District Judge, Presiding
*
This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent
except as provided by 9th Cir. R. 36-3.
Argued and Submitted December 3, 2013
Seattle, Washington
Before: TALLMAN and BEA, Circuit Judges, and MURPHY, District Judge.**
International Business Machine Corp. (“IBM”) appeals the district court’s
grant of partial summary judgment for Intermec, Inc. (“Intermec”) and the
subsequent jury verdict in favor of Intermec on Intermec’s unjust enrichment
claim. Intermec appeals the district court’s denial of pre-judgment interest on the
unjust enrichment award. For the following reasons, we reverse the district court’s
grant of partial summary judgment.
Intermec’s claims are time-barred. Section 19.8 of the Agreement
Regarding Assignment of Radio Frequency Identification Technology and Sale of
Tangible Personal Property (“Agreement”) states no party “may bring an action . . .
arising out of the performance of this Agreement, more than four years after the
action has accrued[.]” The Agreement did not give Intermec a right of final
accounting when the agreement ended in April 2008. Under New York law,
Intermec’s last claim accrued at the time of the last alleged overpayment in 2006.
See Elliott v. Qwest Communications Corp.,
808 N.Y.S.2d 443, 444–445 (N.Y.
** The Honorable Stephen Joseph Murphy, III, District Judge for the
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, sitting by designation.
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A.D. 2006). Thus, Intermec’s suit, which was filed on January 31, 2011, is
not timely.
Even if Intermec’s claim were not time-barred, the district court’s grant of
partial summary judgment must be reversed because the plain meaning of the
language of the Agreement obligates Intermec to pay IBM fees for the Rapid Start
Licensing Agreements under § 10.3.1 of the Agreement. See Greenfield v. Philles
Records, Inc.,
780 N.E.2d 166, 170 (N.Y. 2002) (holding a “written agreement that
is complete, clear and unambiguous on its face must be enforced according to the
plain meaning of its terms”); See also Black’s Law Dictionary 149 (6th ed. 1990)
(defining bare patent license).
This interpretation of the contract removes the basis of the district court’s
finding of any mootness of IBM’s counterclaim. IBM may now pursue that claim
in the district court, and Intermec, of course, preserves all defenses that it had
properly pleaded.
The parties shall bear their own costs on appeal.
REVERSED, VACATED, and REMANDED.
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