DTO Law Secures Voluntary Dismissal for Harbor Freight Tools in Patent Litigation

DTO Law obtained a favorable outcome for its client, Harbor Freight Tools USA, Inc., securing a voluntary dismissal of a patent infringement lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, one of the nation’s most active patent venues.

The lawsuit, brought by Virtual Creative Artists, LLC, alleged that Harbor Freight’s website and related systems infringed two patents, U.S. Patent Nos. 9,501,480 and 9,477,665, purportedly covering processes for creating and distributing multimedia content online. The complaint targeted common website features such as product listings, images, and user reviews, claiming they incorporated patented technology related to electronic media submission and filtering.

DTO’s defense started with a strong motion to dismiss, which led the plaintiff to amend its complaint.  But, believing the amendments failed to cure the deficiencies in the original complaint, DTO moved to dismiss again.  On December 17, 2025, while the second motion was still pending, the plaintiff voluntarily dismissed the action pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 41(a)(1) without any monetary payment by Harbor Freight.

“This dismissal underscores the importance of taking an early, aggressive approach in patent litigation when merited,” said Will Delgado, Managing Partner at DTO Law. “We’re pleased to have achieved this result efficiently for Harbor Freight and to have avoided prolonged litigation in a challenging forum.”

The DTO team was led by Will Delgado and Sudip Kundu.

Virtual Creative Artists, LLC v. Harbor Freight Tools USA, Inc., Case No. 7:25-cv-00209-DC-DTG, U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas (Midland-Odessa Division).