Dietrich v. Trek Bicycle Corp.

OPINION & ORDER

CRABB, District Judge.

This is a difficult case arising at the intersection of contract and patent law. Plaintiff Rolf Dietrich contends that defendant Trek Bicycle Corporation is violating a patent license the parties entered into as part of a settlement agreement disposing of an earlier suit, which requires defendant to mark certain of its bicycle wheels with the number of one of plaintiffs patents. Defendant maintains that plaintiff released this claim when he agreed to settle the earlier suit, that in any case the patent at issue is invalid and unenforceable and that the…