Intellectual Property Law

Claim construction from different case against different defendant applies in subsequent case

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

In a decision yesterday, the Federal Circuit affirmed a district court's construction of a patent claim in an infringement case. However, the court vacated the district court's grant of summary judgment of noninfringement and remanded.

The Federal Circuit held that a prior interpretation of the claim in a suit against a different alleged infringer required the claim construction adopted by the district court. The court declined to address a second issue of claim construction, namely whether the claim preambles were limiting, instead letting the district court address it in the first instance.

The court further held it was error for the district court to deny the plaintiff's 56(f) motion, as the plaintiff had not had sufficient initial opportunity for discovery.  The court also held that a direct conflict in the declarations in the summary judgment record was sufficient to produce a material fact dispute, making summary judgment inappropriate.

More concerning Metro. Life Ins. Co. v. Bancorp Servs., L.L.C. after the jump.

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Full post as published by FileWrapper on June 03, 2008 (boomark / email).