Mueller Water Wins Sanctions Barring Rein’s Future Patent Claims

A Delaware federal judge permanently blocked Rein Tech Inc. from asserting certain existing water-meter patents against Mueller Systems LLC and barred its founder from participating in work on related patent applications, citing repeated violations of a protective order in a case Rein Tech had already lost.

Judge Maryellen Noreika further restricted Rein Tech’s ability to pursue related patent rights against the Mueller Water Products Inc. unit, after concluding that earlier penalties had failed to stop repeated violations of a court confidentiality order, according to an opinion issued Thursday in the US District Court for the District of Delaware.

The judge ...