Octane Fitness, the small, Minnesota-based company that transformed the law governing the awarding of attorney fees in patent litigation, has asked a federal judge in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota to award it more than $2.8 million in attorney fees and expenses.

The request comes more than a year after the U.S. Supreme Court decided that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit's interpretation of the standard for awarding attorney fees was too inflexible and rigid. District courts should have more leeway in deciding whether the prevailing party should be awarded attorney fees, the high court said.

“We were thrilled when the district court judge earlier this month issued the order granting us fees,” Rudy Telscher of Harness Dickey and Pierce in St. Louis said. “It's been a seven-year battle fighting a meritless lawsuit.”