Atlantech Incorporated v. American Panel Corp. et al. (Federal District Court, Massachusetts)

In this federal case, we survived two separate jurisdictional motions to dismiss and succeeded on partial summary judgment, whereby the Court entered a permanent injunction in favor of our client, Atlantech, earning them specific relief potentially valued in the millions of dollars. Atlantech is a Massachusetts-based exporter of aircraft LCD displays, and purchased many of these uniquely-manufactured displays domestically though American Panel, headquartered in Georgia. The purchase contracts for these displays obligated American Panel to provide service and sales support for the displays for ten years and warranty the displays for two years from purchase. Shortly after Atlantech purchased hundreds of displays collectively valued at several millions of dollars, American Panel breached its support obligations, and in January 2007 assigned all of its assets and obligations to a successor corporation, APC Acquisition. Thereafter, APC Acquisition generally refused to honor American Panel’s pre-existing support obligations unless Atlantech agreed to a number of unreasonable requirements. As APC Acquisition maintained the exclusive intellectual property to support and repair these displays, APC Acquisition’s refusal to support these displays placed Atlantech’s business in serious jeopardy. We filed suit in Federal Court seeking specific performance and contractual damages from American Panel, APC Acquisition, and American Panel’s parent company. Atlantech, Inc. v. American Panel Corp., No. 07-10342-JLT/DPW (D. Mass.). Initially, all three defendants sought to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction. We immediately moved for and were awarded the right to take jurisdictional discovery, which ultimately led to a finding that jurisdiction was proper against all three defendants in Massachusetts and defeating the motions to dismiss. Atlantech, No. 07-10342-JLT, slip op. at 1 (D. Mass. Aug. 24, 2007). Thereafter, we moved for partial summary judgment, upon which the Court found that Atlantech’s contracts with American Panel were indeed assigned to APC Acquisition, and due to the defendants’ breaches of those contracts, the Court ordered APC Acquisition to turn over the relevant intellectual property to Atlantech to allow Atlantech to support and repair the displays on its own. Atlantech, No. 07-10342-JLT, slip op. at 1-2 (D. Mass. Mar. 24, 2008). APC Acquisition appealed the decision to the United States Court of Appeals, First Circuit in April 2008. We represented Atlantech in defending the appeal, which was denied in October 2008. Atlantech, No. 08-1492, slip op. at 1 (1st Cir. Oct. 27, 2008). APC Acquisition then petitioned for writ of certiorari to the United States Supreme Court in September 2010, which we also successfully defended, resulting in the denial of certiorari in November 2010.