After 3 days of futile jury discussion, the judge in LeapFrog Enterprises' lawsuit against Mattel's Fisher-Price unit over interactive books declared a mistrial.
US District Court Judge Gregory M. Sleet in Wilmington, Del., issued the ruling after receiving a note from jurors saying they were deadlocked. Lawyers on both sides then agreed that the judge could rule on his own.
LeapFrog claims that Fisher-Price copied its technology for books in which children can push letters in a word to hear how they sound, and seeks $58m in damages, based on loss of sales. Mattel said its PowerTouch books use different technology and that the LeapFrog patent is invalid because it did not contain a new invention. LeapFrog began selling LeapPad books in 1999, and Fisher-Price introduced its PowerTouch books in 2003.
Leapfrog's company attorney Ron Shulman said told told the jury that LeapFrog founder Michael Wood developed the interactive books to help children learn phonetics. When the "c" in "cat" is pushed, it connects to a switch and the LeapPad book pronounces it like "k." When the "c" in "race" is pushed, the book pronounces it like an "s."
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