Del Mar Avionics, a California Corporation v. Quinton Instruments Company, a Washington Corporation

BOOCHEVER, Circuit Judge.

This case involves the applicability of the related doctrines of res judicata and collateral estoppel to a patent infringement suit brought against a manufacturer in the District Court for Seattle, based on a judgment of infringement against a distributor of the same product in the District Court for Los Angeles. Because defendant Quinton Instruments, Inc. (“Quinton”) was bound by the Los Angeles court’s determination that it controlled the Los Angeles litigation against its distributor Physio-Tronics, Inc. and was thus precluded from relitigating the Los Angeles…