At the end of a full day of arguments in the preliminary injunction hearing of the Static/Lexmark lawsuit, there was no decision. After hearing the testimony of each side's expert witnesses, Judge Karl Forester asked for additional information. Static and Lexmark have until the end of the business day on Feb. 14 to provide this to the Lexington, Ky., federal district court.
In addition, the temporary order preventing Static from selling the chips in question (for the T520/620 cartridge) is extended pending the judge's decision, through Feb. 28 at the latest. Also, bond was increased to $250,000.
In short, by Feb. 28, the judge will have to make a decision if a preliminary injunction should be awarded, which would bar Static from selling the 520/620 chips while the case is in progress.
According to Claude Hammond, a Lexington-based business reporter present at the hearing, the judge felt that the two expert witnesses were both convincing. "The judge said, 'I am in the situation where I have two qualified experts. I don't see that their testimony is exactly diametrically opposed, but it's close,'" Hammond said. The judge will continue to examine the details of the case before making his decision later in the month.
The hearing started with opening arguments, and then each side had two and a half hours to present its case. Lexmark started its presentation in the morning, and finished after the lunch recess, and then Static made its arguments, pointing out that Static was losing money every day that the chips couldn't be sold. Testimony by Bill Swartz, president of Static's Imaging Division, indicated that the company would lose $17 million over eight years if not allowed to sell the chips. The bond was increased, indicating that Static could reclaim a higher amount for damages, should the preliminary injunction not be awarded.
Hammond said that the judge was particularly interested in the information of two expert witnesses: Bruce Maggs, associate professor of computer science at Carnegie Mellon University, for Lexmark and Benjamin Goldberg, associate professor of computer science at New York University, for Static Control. Goldberg's specialty is the study of embedded computer programs, exactly the context of this case.
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Claude Hammond contributed to this report.
