United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ______________________

DRAGON INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LLC, Plaintiff-Cross-Appellant

v.

DISH NETWORK L.L.C., Defendant-Appellant

v.

ROBERT E. FREITAS, FREITAS & WEINBERG LLP, Respondents-Appellees ______________________

2022-1621, 2022-1777 ______________________

Appeals from the United States District Court for the District of Delaware in No. 1:13-cv-02066-RGA, Judge Richard G. Andrews.

-------------------------------------------------

DRAGON INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LLC, Plaintiff-Cross-Appellant

v.

SIRIUS XM RADIO INC., Defendant-Appellant Case: 22-1621 Document: 99 Page: 2 Filed: 05/20/2024

2 DRAGON INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LLC v. DISH NETWORK L.L.C.

v.

ROBERT E. FREITAS, FREITAS & WEINBERG LLP, Respondents-Appellees ______________________

2022-1622, 2022-1779 ______________________

Appeals from the United States District Court for the District of Delaware in No. 1:13-cv-02067-RGA, Judge Richard G. Andrews. ______________________

Decided: May 20, 2024 ______________________

JAMES F. MCDONOUGH, III, Rozier Hardt McDonough PLLC, Atlanta, GA, argued for plaintiff-cross-appellant.

LAUREN J. DREYER, Baker Botts LLP, Washington, DC, argued for all defendants-appellants. Defendant-appellant DISH Network L.L.C. Also represented by JAMIE ROY LYNN; GEORGE HOPKINS GUY, III, Palo Alto, CA; SPENCER JAMES PACKARD, Houston, TX.

MARK BAGHDASSARIAN, Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP, New York, NY, for defendant-appellant Sir- ius XM Radio Inc. Also represented by SHANNON H. HEDVAT.

ROBERT E. FREITAS, Freitas & Weinberg LLP, Redwood Shores, CA, argued for respondents-appellees. Also repre- sented by DANIEL J. WEINBERG, Hopkins & Carley, ALC, Redwood City, CA. ______________________ Case: 22-1621 Document: 99 Page: 3 Filed: 05/20/2024

DRAGON INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LLC v. 3 DISH NETWORK L.L.C.

Before MOORE, Chief Judge, STOLL, Circuit Judge, and BENCIVENGO, District Judge. 1 Opinion for the court filed by Chief Judge MOORE. Opinion dissenting-in-part filed by District Judge BENCIVENGO. MOORE, Chief Judge. DISH Network L.L.C. (DISH) and Sirius XM Radio Inc. (SXM) (collectively, Appellants) appeal the United States District Court for the District of Delaware’s denial-in-part of Appellants’ motion for attorneys’ fees under 35 U.S.C. § 285. Dragon Intellectual Property, LLC (Dragon) cross- appeals the district court’s grant-in-part of attorneys’ fees. For the following reasons, we affirm. BACKGROUND Dragon separately sued DISH, SXM, and eight other defendants in December 2013, alleging infringement of claims of U.S. Patent No. 5,930,444. In response, DISH and SXM each sent letters to Freitas & Weinberg LLP, Dragon’s counsel, explaining their products were not cov- ered by the ’444 patent and a reasonable pre-suit investi- gation would have shown the accused products could not infringe the asserted claims. Dragon continued to pursue its infringement claims. In December 2014, DISH filed a petition seeking inter partes review of the ’444 patent. The Patent Trial and Ap- peal Board instituted review and subsequently granted SXM’s request for joinder under 35 U.S.C. § 315(c). The district court stayed proceedings as to