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Summary judgment of validity reversed; predictable variation of prior art obvious as a matter of law

By McKee, Voorhees & Sease, P.L.C.

In a decision last month, the Federal Circuit reversed a district court's summary judgment to the plaintiff.  The district court had awarded damages after granting summary judgment of "validity" and infringement.

While the Federal Circuit agreed with the district court's construction of a disputed claim term, the court held the asserted claims were obvious as a matter of law.  Specifically, it was undisputed that all elements of the claim were present in two prior art references—the only dispute was whether sufficient motivation to combine the prior art existed.  The court, quoting KSR, observed "if a person of ordinary skill can implement a predictable variation, § 103 likely bars its patentability.  That is clearly the situation here."  The combination of the features of the two references, according to the Federal Circuit, would produce results that were "entirely predictable and grounded in common sense."

More regarding Ball Aerosol & Specialty Container, Inc. v. Limited Brands, Inc. after the jump.

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Full post as published by FileWrapper on March 30, 2009 (boomark / email).