Patent Law Blog (Patently-O)

Preliminary Injunctions and Obviousness in Design Patent Law

Titan Tire Corp. v. Case New Holland, Inc. 2008-1078 (Fed. Cir. 2009)

Titan (the patentee) and Goodyear (the exclusive licensee) combined to sue Case for infringement of its tractor tire design patent. (Des. Pat. No. D. 360,862). The district court rejected Goodyear's motion for preliminary injunctive relief - finding that the evidence indicated that the patent claim was probably obvious. On appeal, the Federal Circuit affirmed.

Standard for Preliminary Relief: In order to obtain the "extraordinary" relief of a preliminary injunction to stop infringement before a final judgment, the a patentee must prove that "(1) it is likely to succeed on the merits, (2) it is likely to suffer irreparable harm in the absence of a preliminary relief, (3) the balance of equities tips in its favor, and (4) an injunction is in the public interest." The likelihood of success requires proof that the patentee "will likely prove infringement, and that it will likely withstand [validity] challenges, if any." When a defendant challenges a patent's validity, the district court must weigh the evidence (both for and against) to determine whether the challenge "raises a substantial question" of validity.

"Thus, when analyzing the likelihood of success factor, the trial court, after considering all the evidence available at this early stage of the litigation, must determine whether it is more likely than not that the challenger will be able to prove at trial, by clear and convincing evidence, that the patent is invalid. We reiterate that the “clear and convincing” standard regarding the challenger’s evidence applies only at trial on the merits, not at the preliminary injunction stage. The fact that, at trial on the merits, the proof of invalidity will require clear and convincing evidence is a consideration for the judge to take into account in assessing the challenger’s case at the preliminary injunction stage; it is not an evidentiary burden to be met preliminarily by the challenger."

The trial court's decision on preliminary injunctive relief is reviewed for abuse of discretion.

Obviousness of Design Patents: Design patent claims are subject to the nonobviousness requirement of Section 103(a) -- asking whether “the claimed design would have been obvious to a designer of ordinary skill who designs articles of the type involved.” However, it is unclear how KSR applies to design patent cases. Unfortunately, this decision provides no answers except that "it is not obvious that the Supreme Court necessarily intended to exclude design patents from the reach of KSR."

Ordinarily, design patent obviousness analysis begins with a primary reference with design characteristics that "are basically the same as the claimed design." Secondary references are then combined so long as the secondary references are "so related [to the primary reference] that the appearance of certain ornamental features in one would suggest the application of those features to the other." Here, the lower court did not use the language of "primary and secondary references", but the Federal Circuit found that the lower court's obvious analysis was sufficient to for its denial of preliminary relief.

"[W]e cannot say the trial court abused its discretion in concluding that Titan was unlikely to withstand Case’s challenge to the validity of the ’862 patent on obviousness grounds.

Notes:

• Read the case: 08-1078.pdf
• The court explicitly avoided indicating whether obviousness analysis for design patents should be modified to conform to either KSR or Egyptian Goddess.

Injunctive Relief: District Court Abused Discretion by Failing to Consider eBay Factors

Ecolab v. FMC Corp. (Fed. Cir. 2009)

Both Ecolab and FMC sell chemical mixtures used by beef and poultry factories to help protect raw meat from "pathogens, such as E. coli and salmonella." Both parties hold patents on their mixtures, and in litigation each asserted infringement against the other. A jury awarded both parties damages for infringement. However, the district court refused to issue permanent injunctive relief. On appeal, the Federal Circuit invalidated Ecolab's claims and then focused on whether the district court erred in refusing to grant an injunction to stop Ecolab from infringing.

Injunctive relief is awarded according to the traditional principles of equity. In eBay v. MercExchange, the Supreme Court interpreted those principles to require a patentee seeking injunctive relief to demonstrate "(1) that it has suffered an irreparable injury; (2) that remedies available at law, such as monetary damages, are inadequate to compensate for that injury; (3) that, considering the balance of hardships between the plaintiff and defendant, a remedy in equity is warranted; and (4) that the public interest would not be disserved by a permanent injunction."

In this case, the district court did not explicitly consider any of the eBay factors. "That is an abuse of discretion." In this instance, the Federal Circuit refused to consider whether – based on the fact at hand – an injunction would be proper. Rather, on remand the district court must consider whether relief is warranted based on a consideration of the four listed factors.

Note:

• While construing claims, the decision distinguishes Chef America's statement that claims are construed "as written, not as the patentees wish they had written it." "Because the claim language at issue in Chef America was unambiguous, that case is distinguishable from the present case. In the present case, the definition of "sanitize" is ambiguous in that it does not indicate when consumption is to take place . . . and the district court did not err when it construed the term "sanitize" to mean that the treated meat has become safe for human handling and post-cooking consumption."

Irreparable Harm of Generic Competition: Federal Circuit Affirms Finding that Generic Entry Does not Cause Irreparable Harm

Altana Pharma & Wyeth v. Teva (Fed. Cir. 2009)

Altana's Patent No. 4,758,579 claims the proton pump inhibitor pantoprazole - the active ingredient the anti-ulcer drug Protonix®. Of course, PPI's were known before Altana's patent and even one of Altana's own prior patents discusses a "compound 12" that is structurally similar to those claimed in the '579 patent.

Teva and Sun filed for permission to begin making generic versions of the drug, and Altana subsequently filed this infringement action. (Altana filed separate actions that were consolidated.)

This appeal stems from the New Jersey district court's denial of Altana's motion for a preliminary injunction. The lower court found that the patentee had failed to prove two critical prerequisites of equitable preliminary relief: (1) a likelihood of success on the merits and (2) irreparable harm.

The equitable test for preliminary injunctive relief requires that the requesting party prove:

1. a reasonable likelihood of success on the merits;
2. irreparable harm if an injunction is not granted;
3. a balance of hardships tipping in its favor; and
4. the injunction’s favorable impact on the public interest.

Although the ultimate grant or denial of preliminary relief is within the "sound discretion of the district court," failure to abide by these four factors would be reversible error. Orders to grant or deny a preliminary injunction are immediately appealable.

Likelihood of Success: The Federal Circuit has held that preliminary relief should be denied if the accused infringer raises a "substantial question" of invalidity of the asserted claims. At the PI stage, the court need not consider the ultimate "clear and convincing" standard. Rather, the focus is on "vulnerability."

Obviousness of Chemical Compound: When considering the obviousness of a chemical compound, courts ordinarily first look for a "lead compound" known in the prior art and then consider whether a chemist would have had some reason to modify the known compound in the particular manner to achieve the new compound. Courts are not rigidly bound by this ordinary approach - thus, for instance, a court may look to multiple lead compounds:

Moreover, to the extent Altana suggests that the prior art must point to only a single lead compound for further development efforts, that restrictive view of the lead compound test would present a rigid test similar to the teaching-suggestion-motivation test that the Supreme Court explicitly rejected in KSR.

Here, the appellate panel found "ample evidence" that a chemist would have chosen "compound 12" as a natural choice for further PPI research. The particular modification of compound 12 was then suggested in articles by Sachs and Bryson who were researching properties of effective PPIs.

Considering this evidence as a whole, the Federal Circuit found it sufficient to raise a substantial question of obviousness.

Irreparable Harm: The district court could not find any irreparable harm of allowing infringement during the course of the litigation. Often, money damages are seen as insufficient when the defendant does not have cash-on-hand. Here, however, Teva and Sun both have plenty. The court also found that Altana almost certainly has a business plan to deal with the launch of generics. During the litigation, Nycomed purchased Altana -- seemingly in the lower court's view, that purchase also indicates that money damages are adequate (since a price can be placed on the company & its patent rights).

Perhaps most harmful to Altana was that the lower court found the patentee's statements of harms "exaggerated" and lacking "credibility." A court sitting in equity righty places a dim light on activities suggestive of unclean hands.

On appeal, the Federal Circuit affirmed without significantly commenting on the merits. Rather, the court made this case about equitable discretion: "the law cited by the district court highlights this court’s deference to a district court’s determination whether a movant has sufficiently shown irreparable harm."

Denial of Preliminary Injunction Affirmed

Judge Newman wrote a short concurring opinion.

Although the evidence presented to the district court does not, in my view, establish invalidity of the patent on the pharmaceutical product pantoprazole, see, Gonzales v. O Centro Espirita Beneficente Uniao do Vegetal, 546 U.S. 418, 429 (2006) ("the burdens at the preliminary injunction stage track the burdens at trial.") at this preliminary stage deference is warranted to the district court’s weighing of the conflicting expert opinions interpreting the evidence. On this basis, I concur in sustaining this discretionary action.

No Stay of District Court Proceedings Pending Appeal of Preliminary Injunction

Fairchild Semiconductor v. Third Dimension (3D) Semiconductor (Fed. Cir. 2009) (nonprecedential order)

Fairchild originally licensed 3D's US and Chinese patents - agreeing to a royalty for all Fairchild products "covered by" a 3D patent. However, after analyzing the patents, Fairchild decided that it need not pay any royalties and then sued for a declaratory judgment that it owed no royalties and that none of its products are covered by 3D's patents.

Restraining License Termination: In a preliminary ruling, the district court granted Fairchild's request for a preliminary injunction prohibiting 3D from terminating the license agreement. The ongoing license serves as a defense to charges of patent infringement by 3D. As the district court held, "termination of the agreement does create irreparable harm in depriving Fairchild of its primary defense to 3D patent infringement litigation.

The threat of such litigation is not speculative: 3D has already filed a complaint in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas and has promised to file an infringement case in China based on the Chinese patents otherwise licensed by the Agreement. Without the Agreement as an affirmative defense to those suits, Fairchild could be forced to endure years of litigation in those other forums despite this Court eventually ruling that Fairchild did not breach the Agreement.

The preliminary injunction is now on appeal to the Federal Circuit. In a recent order, the appellate panel rejected 3D's motion to stay the district court proceedings pending outcome of the appeal. 3D argued that the appeal divested the district court with jurisdiction over the matter. That argument was regarded "without merit."

A preliminary injunction, i.e., an injunction pendente lite, is an injunction issued pending the ongoing litigation. Although a district court may not proceed with matters involved with the injunction itself, e.g., it may not amend the injunction, or make findings to support its injunction while the injunction is on appeal, the district court may proceed with the litigation and permit discovery, enter rulings on summary judgment, or hold a trial on the merits. (internal citations omitted)

Briefing in the appeal will begin in April.

Notes & Docs:

• Federal Circuit Order
• Dennis Crouch, Enforcing Foreign Patents in the US: Distinguishing Voda, Patently-O (Dec. 12, 2008) at http://www.patentlyo.com/patent/2008/12/enforcing-forei.html.

Forward Looking Patent Damages

In the wake of eBay, courts and scholars have been working to figure out what to do after denying injunctive relief. A common suggestion is to award an ongoing royalty - often termed a compulsory license. In an impressive body of research stretching back to the year 1660, Lewis & Clark professor Tomás Gómez-Arostegui concludes that "federal courts lack the authority, in either law or equity, to award prospective compensation to plaintiffs for post-judgment copyright or patent infringements."

Until such time as Congress creates a new form of compulsory licensing, future-damage awards and continuing royalties can only be granted in lieu of a final injunction by consent of the parties.

In non-patent cases, such as accidental death, courts regularly calculate future damages - such as earning capacity. However, in those cases, the award is based on a past tort. In patent cases, prospective damages are based upon future infringing actions.

Looking historically, Gómez-Arostegui could not find a single instance prior to 1789 where the Chancery "awarded a continuing royalty in lieu of a final injunction in infringement cases." In cases where no injunction was granted, the court did "nothing at all" about ongoing infringement.

How does this cut:

Read the paper here.

Patently-O Bits and Bytes

• Injunctive Relief: I re-read Michelle Lee's (Google) statement about the need for patent reform. One issue that jumped-out this time: No mention of injunctions. Money is still at stake, but Google appears confident that it won't face a shut-down even if it loses a patent case. In that sense, Google is lucky that it is being sued by non-practicing entities who as a de facto rule don't get injunctive relief against infringers who have a major market share.
• Benefit of Trade Secrets: Avoid Charges of Infringement. In some senses, google is very public. Yet, its actual operation is quite secretive. One benefit of that type of operation is that it helps avoid charges of patent infringement. If patentee's can't tell how you operate, it makes it much more difficult to assert charges of infringement.
• Warranties and Copyright: My colleague Marc Roark has an interesting new paper: Limitation of Sales Warranties as an Alternative to Intellectual Property Rights: An Empirical Analysis of Iphone Warranties' Deterrent Impact on Consumers.
• The BPAI Watchdog: http://bpaiwatchdog.blogspot.com/. So far, Leigh Martinson is focusing on the BPAI's application of Bilski.
• European Bilski: The Enlarged Board of Appeal of the EPO is looking for third-party input on four issues:
• 1. Is it only proper to exclude patents covering computer programs as such when explicitly claimed as a "computer program"?
  2. Does a claim avoid the computer program as such exclusion by mentioning a computer or data storage medium? (If not, what technical effect is needed?)
  3. Can a technical effect be non-physical? Is it sufficient if the physical entity is an unspecified computer?
  4. Does the activity of programming a computer necessarily involve technical considerations?
• Input on the European questions are due by the end of April. http://www.epo.org/topics/news/2009/20090219.html.
• Application for the job of PTO Director (by Prof Morris) http://www.stanford.edu/~rjmorris/pto.htm. I maintain that it is possible to find an excellent nominee who is not a patent attorney. However, any nominee who does not have extensive experience with the patent prosecution process will face an uphill credibility battle from day one.

Federal Circuit affirms permanent injunction in face of prior license agreements

Acumed LLC v. Stryker Corp. (Fed. Cir. 2008)

In 2004, Acumed sued Stryker for infringing a patent covering an orthopedic nail used in reconstructing humerus fractures.  After a jury verdict of infringement, the district court ordered a permanent injunction. That pre-eBay ruling was subsequently vacated by the Federal Circuit because the lower court did not specifically consider the traditional four-factor test for injunctive relief. On remand, the district court again granted the permanent injunction.  That permanent injunction is affirmed here on appeal.

In eBay, the Supreme Court held that the traditional four factors of equitable relief must be considered before granting injunctive relief in a patent infringement case.  However, if a district court considers the requisite factors, the Federal Circuit will only vacate if they find an “abuse of discretion.” 

Irreparable Harm and Lack of Remedy at Law: The first two factors of (1) irreparable harm caused by continued infringement and (2) inadequate remedies available at law almost entirely overlap. The court easily considered those factors together. 

Acumed had previously licensed the patents to other manufacturers — perhaps indicating that money could be sufficient to compensate for the infringement. However, the district court distinguished the prior licenses based on the identities of the past licensees and Acumed’s more recent “experience in the market.”  The Federal Circuit found no abuse of discretion — noting that “[a] plaintiff’s past willingness to license its patent is not sufficient per se to establish lack of irreparable harm if a new infringer were licensed.” 

The Jury had awarded lost profit damages, and Acumed suggested that fact indicates that future harms would cause irreparable harm (or at least more than what would be compensated by a reasonable royalty).  On appeal, the Federal Circuit did not dispute (or explicitly affirm) this argument. However the court did note that “[t]he essential attribute of a patent grant is that it provides a right to exclude competitors from infringing the patent.”

Balance of Hardships: For the third factor – balancing the hardships – Stryker argued that its customers (who need their arms fixed) would suffer under an injunction. On appeal, the Federal Circuit rejected that argument as a matter of law — holding that the balancing factor “is only between a plaintiff and a defendant, and thus the effect on customers and patients alleged by Stryker is irrelevant.”  Under this construct of the balancing factor, the patentee will usually win — especially when applying the Windsurfing holding that “One who elects to build a business on a product found to infringe cannot be heard to complain if an injunction against continuing infringement destroys the business so elected.”

Public Interest: The patentee must show that the public interest is “not dissereved by an injunction.”  Here, Stryker argued that the Acumed product was lower quality and that the arm bone repair would lead to increased morbidity. The district court did not find that public health argument persuasive and the Federal Circuit agreed that “the court was within its discretion to conclude that the public interest was not disserved by an injunction.”

Permanent Injunction Affirmed

Notes:

• The Jury found the infringement “willful.” That fact was not discussed in the eBay analysis.
• This case follows the conventional wisdom that the courts will continue to grant permanent injunctions against competitors who infringe.

Rethinking the four ‘factors’ of preliminary injunctive relief

Abbott Laboratories v. Sandoz, Inc., (Fed. Cir. 2008)(Newman, J.)

Preliminary injunctions decisions are blessed with their own four-factor equitable test. I like to think of the test as having two required elements (likelihood of success on the merits and potential irreparable harm) and two optional factors (balance of the equities and public interest). A preliminary injunction (PI) will only issue when (1) the first two elements are demonstrated by the patentee and (2) the combined result of all four elements/factors weighs in favor of a PI.

The district court granted a preliminary injunction to Abbott to stop Sandoz from making or selling a generic version of its extended release clarithromycin antibiotic. In 75 pages of split opinion, the Federal Circuit affirmed with Judge Newman writing the majority opinion; Senior Judge Archer signing-on except for the two juicy parts: I and VI; and Judge Gajarsa in vigorous dissent.

The dispute revolves around the meaning of the required PI element of 'likelihood of success on the merits.' To win on this element, the patentee typically needs to provide evidence of infringement of at least one valid claim. Often this element turns on the defendant's rebuttal proof of invalidity. Here, the defendant provided some evidence of potential invalidity, but not conclusive evidence. Thus, while the defendant did raise a substantial question of the vulnerability of the patent, it did not provide any clear and convincing evidence of invalidity.

Judge Gajarsa argued that Federal Circuit precedent requires a PI be denied when substantial questions of validity are raised. This standard is exemplified in the Federal Circuit's recent Erico decision – which found the threshold "substantial question" met by evidence which simply "cast[s] doubt on the validity" of the asserted claims.

Judge Gajarsa: "Under our precedent, the likelihood of success factor is properly analyzed by considering whether the alleged infringer raises a substantial question as to validity."

 

On the other side, Judge Newman argues that a patentee may still be likely to succeed on the merits even when vulnerabilities and substantial invalidity questions are raised by the defense.

Judge Newman: "The question is not whether the patent is vulnerable; the question is who is likely to prevail in the end, considered with equitable factors that relate to whether the status quo should or should not be preserved while the trial is ongoing. The presentation of sufficient evidence to show the likelihood of prevailing on the merits is quite different from the presentation of substantial evidence to show vulnerability. "

Both sides are well supported by conflicting precedent, and this case may well be a good vehicle for an en banc discussion of preliminary injunctive relief.

Shaping Nuanced Patent Injunctions: Broadcom v. Qualcomm

Broadcom v. Qualcomm (Fed. Cir. 2008) [Part II]

On appeal, the Federal Circuit affirmed the permanent injunction against Qualcomm – finding that the district court acted within its equitable discretion and properly followed the injunctive relief guidelines set forth by the Supreme Court in eBay v. MercExchange (2006).

Although recognizing the importance of its eventual decision, the Federal Circuit again refrained from determining whether a finding that a patent has been infringed should serve as presumptive evidence of irreparable harm.

"It remains an open question 'whether there remains a rebuttable presumption of irreparable harm following eBay.'" Quoting Amado (Fed. Cir. 2008)

Irreparable Harm: The patentee Broadcom is a non-practicing entity in the sense that it does not make or sell the invention claimed in the asserted patents. The patentee does, however, compete indirectly with Qualcomm by making an alternative chipset. Here, the Federal Circuit agreed that eBay does not allow a general rule that would prevent a non-practicing from obtaining injunctive relief and that in this Broadcom had been able to show the potential for irreparable harm.

"Broadcom provided evidence of irreparable harm, despite the fact that it does not currently practice the claimed inventions. This result is consistent with eBay, in which the Supreme Court cautioned that 'traditional equitable principles do not permit such broad classifications' as presuming that a patentee cannot establish irreparable harm based on a patentee's 'willingness to license its patents' or 'its commercial activity in practicing the patents.'"

Adequate Remedy at Law: Broadcom had licensed its patents Verizon. A license can theoretically show that monetary damages are adequate. However, the particular market situation is important for that determination. In this case the Verizon license is a vertical license while a license to Qualcomm would be a horizontal license. Thus, the court agreed that "the Verizon license has little bearing on the effect of a compulsory license to a direct competitor."

Hardships and Public Interest: The district court created the injunction order with a "sunset provision." Under the plan, Qualcomm may continue infringing for twenty-months while paying a compulsory license rate. At the end of those twenty months, the company will be enjoined from further infringement. The delayed nature of the injunction consequently removed any notion that the a balance of hardships or the public interest would favor the adjudged infringer because it gives plenty of time to redesign and redeploy to customers without any interruption of service.

This decision is insightful in how it moves the proper focus from whether an injunction should issue to the more nuanced issues of how to shape the injunction in a way that best serves the public interest while still protecting property rights. One problem with complex injunctions and ongoing compulsory licenses is that the district court must continue to monitor and make judgments on the situation. In this case the district court recently found Qualcomm in contempt for failing to pay its ongoing royalties of more than $93 million. As a sanction, the court ordered Qualcomm to pay gross profits – noting that "[w]hile an award of gross profit may overcompensate … it will do so in an amount which bears a direct relationship to the degree of infringement. The more that were sold, the greater the award."

Notes:

Read more about the case here.

Combining References in Novelty; Slack in New Matter; No Decision on Injunction for NPE

CSIRO v. Buffalo Technology (Fed. Cir. 2008)

CSIRO is a nonpractising patent holder. It is also an arm of the Australian government. After winning an infringement suit against Buffalo Tech, CSIRO was awarded permanent injunctive relief to protect its spread spectrum WLAN technology.

On appeal, more than a half-dozen amici filed briefs arguing for and against injunctive relief in this situation. On appeal, however, the Federal Circuit vacated the infringement holding – leaving the discussion of injunctive relief for another day. The vacatur came from the district court’s pre-KSR strict requirement for a motivation to combine references.

Combining References For Novelty: On novelty, Buffalo asked the court to combine two references in its analysis because one of the reference cites the other in a footnote. The Federal Circuit rejected that argument — finding that the footnote discussion was insufficient to concatenate the two references. “In particular, the reference to Bingham does not ‘identify with detailed particularity what specific material it incorporates and clearly indicate where that material is found in the various documents.’ Advanced Display Systems, (Fed. Cir. 2000).”

New Matter: 35 USC 132 bars an applicant from presenting new matter once a patent application has been filed.  In litigation, the written description requirement of Section 112 serves as the basis for invalidating patents with added new matter.  The new matter limitation is not strict. Rather, when the claims are amended, the patent will only be invalidated if the original specification is not “sufficient to allow persons of ordinary skill in the art to recognize that the inventor invented the subject matter that is claimed in the asserted claims.”  Further, the PTO’s decision to allow an amendment provides a patent with “an especially weighty presumption of correctness.”

Here, CSIRO changed its claim limitation from “frequencies in excess of 10 GHz” to simply “radio frequencies.”  On appeal, the Federal Circuit affirmed the lower court’s factual finding that the amendment did not impermissibly add new matter. (No clear error). In particular, neither party suggested a technical distinction between handling lower frequencies. Further, the court found that the original specification was not limited to frequencies in excess of 10 GHz.

On remand, the lower court will reevaluate obviousness.

CAFC Finally Affirms a Finding of Infringement by Equivalents

Dr. Voda v. Cordis Corp. (Fed. Cir. 2008)

Dr. Voda’s case is an exciting tale of an individual inventor litigating against a major corporation in the red sandy soil of western Oklahoma. 

A jury found that Cordis catheters infringed Voda’s patents and adjudged a reasonable royalty to be 7.5% of gross sales. The jury also found the infringement willful and the patents not invalid.  The district court then affirmed the jury verdict but denied Voda’s request for injunctive relief.

Claim Construction: Voda’s claim included the requirement that the catheter be engaged “along a line” of the aorta. The district court, however, found that the claim is not limited to linear portions of the aorta. On appeal, the CAFC confirmed the construction — reminding us that “the context in which a term is used in the asserted claim can be highly instructive.” Phillips. When engaged, it is clear that the catheter may curve along the aorta.

The specification does indicate that the “present invention [includes a] straight portion.” However, the CAFC refused to see that statement as a “clear disavowal of claim scope” because the specification discusses other instances where the same portion could be curved.

Doctrine of Equivalents: Cordis had redesigned some of its products to avoid literal infringement. However, these were found to infringe under the Doctrine of Equivalents. In particular, a “second straight portion” claim element was not literally found in the Cordis products, but the jury found that the products did include an equivalent element.

At the court’s option, either of two tests of equivalent may be used:

Under the insubstantial differences test, “[a]n element in the accused device is equivalent to a claim limitation if the only differences between the two are insubstantial.” Honeywell Int’l Inc. v. Hamilton Sundstrand Corp., 370 F.3d 1131, 1139 (Fed. Cir 2004). Alternatively, under the function-way-result test, an element in the accused device is equivalent to a claim limitation if it “performs substantially the same function in substantially the same way to obtain substantially the same result.” Schoell v. Regal Marine Indus., Inc., 247 F.3d 1202, 1209-10 (Fed. Cir. 2001).

The CAFC looked to Voda’s experts to find evidence of insubstantial difference. In particular, Voda’s expert testified that the Cordis “curve portion” was essentially straight and that “cardiologists would have difficulty distinguishing the two during use.”  In addition, Voda introduced evidence that the Cordis curve portion “performed the same function as a straight portion, in the same way, to achieve the same result. . . . Accordingly, we affirm the jury’s findings of infringement with respect to these claims.”

Notes:

• EBay: Voda argued for an injunction based on the irreparable harm to its exclusive licensee. The CAFC rejected that justification — finding that the irreparably harmed must be the party seeking the injunction.
• Seagate: The CAFC vacated the willfulness finding that was based on pre-Seagate law.
• Festo: The CAFC did find that some of Voda’s claims were not infringed under the DOA. Those claims had been narrowed during prosecution and were subject to prosecution history estoppel.
• Prior Appeal: In the 2007 appeal in this case, the CAFC held that Voda could not assert its foreign patents covering the same product in US courts. [LINK]
• See Lemley & Allison: THE (UNNOTICED) DEMISE OF THE DOCTRINE OF EQUIVALENTS

 

De-Stabilizing Preliminary Injunctions through De Novo Review of Claim Construction

Chamberlain Group v. Lear Corp. (Fed. Cir. 2008)

Chamberlain's patent is directed to improved security for remote garage door controls. After an initial claim construction, the N.D. Ill. court granted summary judgment for Chamberlain and issued a preliminary injunction.

A major point of contention was the claimed "binary code" limitation.  In a portion of its system, Lear used a three-symbol (trinary) code. Of course the underlying processor is binary and thus encodes the trinary code as binary numbers. In its preliminary injunction decision, the lower court held that Lear likely infringed because of the trinary coded binary numbers.

De Novo Review: On appeal, the CAFC reversed, but only after noting that the "district court commendably strove to follow this court's rules for claim construction."  In particular, the CAFC found in its de novo review that the specification requires a finding that a trinary code is not a binary code even though it is stored in binary format.

De Novo Preliminary Injunction: A preliminary injunction requires a showing that the patentee has a strong likelihood of success on the merits of the case.  Because a showing of success on the merits depends upon the claim construction, the appellate panel held that reversal on claim construction will almost always lead to vacatur of a preliminary injunction. I.e., "A correct claim construction is almost always a prerequisite for imposition of a preliminary injunction."

Preliminary Injunction Vacated.

Notes:

1. This decision is important because it shows how de novo review of claim construction can de-stable holdings that are otherwise reviewed only for clear error.
2. Background on the Litigation

Threatening Letters to Infringer's Clients Are Not Actionable Unless "Objectively Baseless" (Although They Will Create DJ Jurisdiction)

GP Industries v. Eran (Fed. Cir. 2007)

Eran makes “leakproof” rain gutter covers. Several Eran employees were fired during the summer of 2005.  Those individuals reorganized as GPI — a potential competitor to Eran. As a preemptive strike, Eran mailed letters to its distributors and contractors noting that GPI’s planned to sell a competitive product that infringed Eran’s patent.

After GPI filed for declaratory judgment, the district court (Nebraska) granted GPI’s motion for a preliminary injunction — stopping Eran from “(1) seeking to prevent GPI from making and selling its gutter products during the pendency of this litigation and (2) making vague and unspecified allegations of infringement against GPI in the marketplace.”

On appeal, the CAFC reversed — finding that the preliminary injunction had been improperly granted.

The party seeking a preliminary injunction has the burden of showing: “(1) a reasonable likelihood of success on the merits; (2) irreparable harm; (3) a balance of hardships in its favor; and (4) public interest in favor of the injunction.” Once granted, a preliminary injunction will only be vacated for clear error.

Injunction against Communications: Based on First Amendment rights and 35 U.S.C. § 287 (notice), injunctions relating to communications must pass a higher hurdle. In particular, “bad faith” is required in order to bar communications.

“One has a right to inform others of his or her patent rights. See 35 U.S.C. § 287. Thus, an injunction against communication is strong medicine that must be used with care and only in exceptional circumstances.”

In Globetrotter Software, the CAFC held that “bad faith” communications require “objectively baseless claims.”  Notably, these determinations are based on federal law that preempt any state laws that may be less strict.

Here, the CAFC found that Eran’s statements could not be “objectively baseless” since the lower court had noted the real potential that Eran would eventually succeed on the merits of the case.

Preliminary Injunction Reversed

Notes:

• Hovey Williams of Kansas City, Missouri represented the patentee, Eran.
• Kirton & McConkie of Salt Lake City, Utah represented the accused infringer.

Nonpracticing Entity (CSIRO) Gets Injunction

CSIRO v. Buffalo Technology (E.D.Tex. 2007)

CSIRO operates as a technology licensing arm of the Australian Government. CSIRO does not practice its inventions, but has asserted its wireless LAN patent against a number of accused infringers, including Intel, Microsoft, Marvell, and Buffalo. The patent is broad enough to cover all 802.11a/g wireless technology and has a 1992 priority date.

In the case against Buffalo, CSIRO won a slam-dunk summary judgment of validity and infringement. The court then considered whether to award a permanent injunction in favor of the non-practicing entity (NPE).

In Preliminary Injunction Decision, CAFC Forecasts Post-eBay Jurisprudence

Sanofi v. Apotex (Fed. Cir. 2006)

Generic manufacturer Apotex wants to make something similar to Sanofi’s Plavix (clopidogrel bisulfate) and filed an ANDA alleging that Sanofi’s patents were invalid.

The two parties worked together to negotiate a settlement.  The agreement, however, was not accepted by state attorneys general even after new terms were presented. Under provisions of the agreement, the regulatory denial killed the settlement and the parties resumed litigation.

Sanofi then filed a motion for preliminary injunction to stop Apotex from selling its product. Within 21 days, the district court issued a PI. (During that time, Apotex shipped six-months of product). Apotex then appealed the PI.  Preliminary injunction jurisprudence has its own four-factor test that is similar to that of permanent injunctions. The plaintiff must show:

• Reasonable likelihood of success on the merits of the case;
• Irreparable harm if an injunction is not issued;
• Balance of hardships tipped in favor of the plaintiff; and
• Public interest that is not negatively impacted.

The major difference between the factors for consideration in preliminary injunctive relief and those for permanent relief is that preliminary relief requires a showing of a likelihood of success while permanent relief requires success on the merits as a precondition. Thus, the final three factors will give some indication of how the court will rule in post-eBay injunction cases.

Likelihood of success on the merits: Apotex took the odd position of arguing anticipation based on a broadly worded claim of a prior art patent that was examined during prosecution.  The CAFC confirmed that this made the burden of proving invalidity at trial “especially difficult.”  On obviousness, the CAFC confirmed that the unpredictability of enantiomer activity made the claimed dextrorotatory formation nonobvious even if the molecule as a whole was known.

On Irreparable Harm: The settlement agreement between the parties included a provision that capped any damages for infringement by Apotex — seemingly an admission that Sanofi would settle for money damages. The court did not buy-into this argument, but only because of the technicality that the agreement also contemplated an injunction.

Balance of hardships tip entirely in Sanofi’s favor because Apotex chose to launch its product under threat of injunctive relief.  It could have avoided the situation altogether and thus should not benefit from this factor.

Public Interest: The CAFC continued its line of the “importance of the patent system in encouraging innovation.” Interestingly, the court focuses on how the expense of pharmaceutical inventions necessitates strong patent protection. . . . begging the question of whether less expensive innovations (such as software) have less of a public interest in strong patent protection.