David A. Tropp v. Conair Corporation, Hp Marketing Corp. Ltd., L.c. Industries, LLC, Master Lock…

NOTE: This disposition is nonprecedential.
United States Court of Appeals
for the Federal Circuit
__________________________
DAVID A. TROPP,
Plaintiff-Appellant,
v.
CONAIR CORPORATION, HP MARKETING CORP.
LTD., L.C. INDUSTRIES, LLC, MASTER LOCK
COMPANY LLC, SAMSONITE CORPORATION,
TITAN LUGGAGE USA, TRAVELPRO
INTERNATIONAL INC., AND TRG ACCESSORIES,
LLC,
Defendants-Appellees,
AND
BRIGGS & RILEY TRAVELWARE LLC,
Defendant-Appellee,
AND
VF OUTDOOR, INC., BROOKSTONE COMPANY,
INC., AND BROOKSTONE STORES, INC.,
Defendants-Appellees,
AND
DELSEY LUGGAGE INC.,
Defendant-Appellee,
AND
EBAGS, INC.,
Defendant-Appellee,

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TROPP v. CONAIR CORPORATION 2
AND
MAGELLAN’S INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL
CORPORATION,
Defendant-Appellee,
AND
TUMI, INC.,
Defendant-Appellee,
and
WORDLOCK, INC.,
Defendant-Appellee,
AND
EAGLE CREEK, A DIVISION OF VF OUTDOOR,
INC., AND OUTPAC DESIGNS INC.,
Defendants.
__________________________
2011-1583
__________________________
Appeal from the United States District Court for the
Eastern District of New York in Case No. 08-CV-4446,
Judge Eric N. Vitaliano.
___________________________
Decided: November 15, 2012
___________________________
RONALD D. COLEMAN, Goetz Fitzpatrick LLP, of New
York, New York, for plaintiff-appellant. With him on the
brief was JOEL G. M ACM ULL.

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TROPP v. CONAIR CORPORATION 3
WILLIAM L. PRICKETT , Seyfarth Shaw LLP, of Boston,
Massachusetts, for defendants-appellees Conair Corpora-
tion, et al.
PETER I. BERNSTEIN , Scully, Scott, Murphy & Presser,
of Garden City, New York, for defendant-appellee Briggs
& Riley Travelware LLC. On the brief was ANTHONY J.
D IFILIPPI, Abelman, Frayne & Schwab, of New York, New
York.
BRIAN A. CARPENTER, Buether Joe & Carpenter LLC,
of Dallas, Texas, for defendants-appellees Brookstone
Stores, Inc., et al.
CHRISTOPHER F. LONEGRO , Ober, Kaler, Grimes &
Shriver, of Baltimore, Maryland, for defendant-appellee
Delsey Luggage Inc.
JANET CULLUM, Cooley Godward Kronish, LLP, of
New York, New York for defendant-appellee eBags, Inc.
With her on the brief was CAROLYN JUAREZ . Of counsel
was LORI R. M ASON , of Palo Alto, California.
ROBERT J. K ENNEY, Birch, Steward, Kolasch & Birch,
of Falls Church, Virginia, for defendant-appellee Magel-
lan’s International Travel Corporation.
NEIL P. SIROTA , Baker Botts, LLP, of New York, New
York, for defendant-appellee Tumi, Inc. On the brief was
JENNIFER C. TEMPESTA.
THOMAS F. FITZPATRICK , Goodwin Procter LLP, of
Menlo Park, California, for defendant-appellee Wordlock,
Inc.
__________________________

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TROPP v. CONAIR CORPORATION 4
Before RADER, Chief Judge, LOURIE, Circuit Judge, and
D ANIEL, Chief District Judge1 .
RADER, Chief Judge.
David A. Tropp sued Defendants-Appellees, eighteen
manufacturers and distributors of luggage, for infringe-
ment of United States Patent Nos. 7,021,537 (the ’537
patent) and 7,036,728 (the ’728 patent) in connection with
their use of a dual-access luggage lock system designed
and licensed by Travel Sentry, Inc. (“Travel Sentry”). In
September 2010, the United States District Court for the
Eastern District of New York awarded declaratory judg-
ment of non-infringement of the ’537 and ’728 patents to
Travel Sentry. Travel Sentry, Inc. v. Tropp (Travel Sentry
I), 736 F. Supp. 2d 623, 639 (E.D.N.Y. 2010). The district
court then dismissed the present case as barred by collat-
eral estoppel based on the decision in Travel Sentry I.
Tropp v. Conair Corp., No. 08-cv-4446, 2011 U.S. Dist.
LEXIS 88559 (E.D.N.Y. Aug. 10, 2011). Tropp appeals,
and this court has jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C.
§ 1295(a).
This court recently vacated and remanded the Travel
Sentry I decision for a determination of whether Travel
Sentry is liable for indirect infringement under the stan-
dard set forth in this court’s en banc opinion in Akamai
Techs. Co. v. Limelight Networks, Inc., 692 F.3d 1301
(Fed. Cir. 2012). Travel Sentry, Inc. v. Tropp (Travel
Sentry II), No. 2011-1023, -1367, 2012 U.S. App. LEXIS
22691, at *25 (Fed. Cir. Nov. 5, 2012). Because Travel
Sentry II vacated the decision that formed the basis of the
district court’s application of collateral estoppel, that
doctrine no longer applies. Therefore, this court vacates
1 The Honorable Wiley Y. Daniel, Chief District
Judge, United States District Court for the District of
Colorado, sitting by designation.

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TROPP v. CONAIR CORPORATION 5
the dismissal of the present action and remands for
further proceedings.
VACATED AND REMANDED

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