Shady Business Tactics: Competitor Pays Big for Willfully Infringing Window Shade Patent

A New York federal jury has awarded GeigTech $34.6 million after not only finding that home lighting fixtures company Lutron infringed upon its patent on window shade systems, but also did so willfully. The case, which has been pending since 2018, finally concluded after a three-week trial and a bench trial, with the jury deciding the patent case and rendering a verdict in GeigTech’s favor. According to the suit, GeigTech East Bay LLC’s founder, James Geiger, created a design for window shades that involved “exposed roller shades without any visible screws, wires, or other unsightly hardware.” Dubbed the J Geiger Shading System, it was protected under U.S. Patent No. 10,294,717. When the court asked the jury to cite what part of the statement on the verdict form was true, the jury cited the phrase: “Lutron opted to poach (GeigTech’s) patented designs and intellectual property to try and remain competitive in a segment of the market that (GeigTech) cornered.” The Cole Schotz trial team consisted of: Gary Sorden, Aaron Davidson, Don Ottaunick, Brian King, Vishal Patel, James Perkins, Kristopher Ruiz, Seokin Yeh, Gianna Zapata, Pekham Pal, and Gail Ashby