Fisher Tool Co., Inc. v. Gillet Outillage

KOZINSKI, Chief Judge:

Defendant Gillet Outillage is a French company that makes hose clamp pliers; it owns French and U.S. patents on the pliers’ design. When Gillet discovered that plaintiffs were selling similar pliers in the United States, the company sued them for patent infringement. But the lawsuit didn’t go as well as Gillet hoped: The district court construed the patent’s claims narrowly at a pre-trial Markman hearing; after that setback Gillet dropped the suit, which was then dismissed. Plaintiffs thereupon sued Gillet and its lawyers, claiming that Gillet’s lawsuit was a mali cious…