Allen Engineering Corp. v. Bartell Industries

• Decision Date: 01 August 2002
• Docket Number: No. 01-1238.,01-1238.
• Citation: 299 F.3d 1336
• Parties: ALLEN ENGINEERING CORPORATION, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. BARTELL INDUSTRIES, INC. and Darragh Company, Defendants-Appellants.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Federal Circuit

Page 1336

299 F.3d 1336

ALLEN ENGINEERING CORPORATION, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. BARTELL INDUSTRIES, INC. and Darragh Company, Defendants-Appellants.

No. 01-1238.

United States Court of Appeals, Federal Circuit.

August 1, 2002.

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Paul McNeill, Womack, Landis, Phelps, McNeill & McDaniel, of Jonesboro, Arkansas, argued for the plaintiff-appellee. On the brief was Stephen D. Carver, Carver Patent Law, LTD., of Little Rock, Arkansas.

William M. Lee, Jr., Lee, Mann, Smith, McWilliams, Sweeney & Ohlson, of Chicago, Illinois, argued for defendants-appellants. With him on the brief was Mark J. Nahnsen.

Before GAJARSA, LINN, and PROST, Circuit Judges.

LINN, Circuit Judge.

Bartell Industries, Inc. ("Bartell") appeals the April 13, 1999 judgment, following a bench trial, of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas, Civil Action No. J-C-95-143 ("Allen Engineering"), holding that Bartell's riding trowel models TS-65, TS-78, and TS-88¹ infringed certain claims of United States Patent No. 5,108,220 ("'220 patent"), assigned to Allen Engineering Corporation ("Allen"), and the same court's Order of February 2, 2001, entering judgment for Allen and awarding doubled damages in the amount of $463,485.10. Because the district court did not construe the claims in suit and did not identify the specific claims it held to be infringed under the doctrine of equivalents, we vacate the judgment of infringement and the award of damages based thereon. Moreover, because the district court failed to apply the proper legal test in considering whether Allen's sales of the Red Rider more than one year prior to the filing date of the '220 patent constituted an on-sale bar to the patenting of the invention claimed therein, we vacate the district court's determination that the patent is not invalid under 35 U.S.C. § 102(b). Because claims 1-4, 13, and 23 of the '220 patent are indefinite, we reverse the district court's holding that those claims are not invalid under 35 U.S.C. § 112. We affirm the district court's finding that Bartell has not established the intent to deceive necessary to its claim of inequitable conduct before the Patent and Trademark Office based on Allen's failure to disclose its Red Rider trowel during the prosecution of the '220 patent. Finally, we affirm the district court's finding that the typographical error contained in certain patent identification labels on the Allen trowels was not material and does not affect any eventual calculation of damages. The case is remanded for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

I. BACKGROUND

This appeal relates to concrete riding trowels, which are machines used to smooth the surface of freshly poured concrete. Such trowels are powered by an internal combustion engine and are steered by the manipulation of a control stick or sticks. Since the steering of early trowels was relatively poor, research focused on improvements to the responsiveness of the steering. Allen's first model of such a trowel was known as the "Red Rider." It featured dual control sticks, and was a "front-facing" trowel, meaning that the operator sat on a forward facing seat, as distinct from "straddle-type" trowel seats, which were similar to motorcycle seats. Sales of the Red Rider began in 1988; over one hundred units were ultimately sold. Allen's further research efforts ultimately resulted in the development of another riding trowel model, known as the "Flying Frame," which was introduced to the market in 1990.

Bartell introduced straddle-type trowels beginning in 1988. Its first front-facing model was completed in 1992, and was allegedly copied from a prototype of Allen's Flying Frame trowel. The introduction of this Bartell model to the market-place provoked the present infringement litigation.

The application which matured to Allen's '220 patent was filed on July 13, 1990, and the patent issued in 1992. The claims were extensively amended during prosecution. Representative claim 15 of the '220 patent is reproduced below:

A self-propelled, fast steering motorized riding trowel for finishing a concrete surface, said riding trowel comprising:

seat means for supporting an operator of said riding trowel;

primary control lever means accessible by said operator from said seat means for steering said riding trowel;

rigid frame means adapted to be disposed over said concrete surface for supporting said seat means and said lever means;

motor means for powering said riding trowel;

twin rotor means associated with said frame means for navigating said concrete surface and supporting said frame means thereabove, each rotor means comprising:

blade means comprising a plurality of individual radially spaced apart blades adapted to frictionally contact said surface, said blades having a pre-selected pitch;

gearbox means for rotating said blade means, said gearbox means comprising a pair of rotatable shafts projecting downwardly from said frame means and defining a biaxial plane; and

pivot steering box means for pivotally mounting said gearbox means to said frame means;

flexible drive shaft means for actuating said gearbox means in response to said motor means thereby revolving said rotor means, said flexible drive shaft means comprising individual shaft sections axially linked together by friction disk means for facilitating bending;

means interconnecting said drive shaft means with said motor means; and,

lever arm means disposed beneath said frame means for tilting said gearbox means in a plane generally parallel with said biaxial plane in response to said primary control lever means.

Allen brought suit in the Eastern District of Arkansas in July of 1995, alleging that Bartell's manufacture and sale of its Bartell # 1 and Bartell # 2 models infringed claims 1-4, 6-9, and 13-24 of the '220 patent. The court did not conduct a Markman hearing, nor did it construe the claims of the '220 patent. After a bench trial, the district court found that the Bartell # 1 trowel literally infringed claims 15-19, and possibly other claims, and that the Bartell # 2 trowel infringed unspecified claims under the doctrine of equivalents. The district court also found that the Red Rider trowel was an experimental model that never reached completion, and on that basis, rejected Bartell's contention that the '220 patent claims were subject to an on-sale bar. The district court also rejected Bartell's argument that Allen committed inequitable conduct by not disclosing the Red Rider to the PTO during prosecution of the '220 patent. Finally, the court rejected Bartell's argument that damages could not be awarded because Allen's Flying Frame trowel, which was allegedly covered by the claims of the '220 patent, bore erroneous marking stickers that did not provide effective notice of the patent numbers to the public.

II. DISCUSSION

A. Standard of Review

This court reviews a district court's judgment following a bench trial for errors of law and clearly erroneous findings of fact. Manville Sales Corp. v. Paramount Sys., Inc., 917 F.2d 544, 549, 16 USPQ2d 1587, 1597 (Fed.Cir.1990); Gould v. Quigg, 822 F.2d 1074, 1077, 3 USPQ2d 1302, 1304 (Fed.Cir.1987). Claim construction is a matter of law and is reviewed de novo. Markman v. Westview Instruments, Inc., 52 F.3d 967, 979, 34 USPQ2d 1321, 1328 (Fed.Cir.1995) (en banc), aff'd, 517 U.S. 370, 116 S.Ct. 1384, 134 L.Ed.2d 577, 38 USPQ2d 1461 (1996). A determination of whether properly construed claims literally read on an accused product is a question of fact, General Mills, Inc. v. Hunt-Wesson, Inc., 103 F.3d 978, 981, 41 USPQ2d 1440, 1442 (Fed.Cir. 1997), as is the question of whether an element of an accused device is the equivalent of a claim limitation, Insta-Foam Prods., Inc. v. Universal Foam Sys., Inc., 906 F.2d 698, 702, 15 USPQ2d 1295, 1297 (Fed.Cir.1990).

A determination of whether a claim recites the subject matter which that applicant regards as his invention and is sufficiently definite, so as to satisfy the requirements of 35 U.S.C. § 112, paragraph 2, is a legal conclusion and is reviewed de novo. Solomon v. Kimberly-Clark Corp., 216 F.3d 1372, 1377, 55 USPQ2d 1279, 1281 (Fed.Cir.2000).

Inequitable conduct is a matter within the sound discretion of the trial court and is reviewed for an abuse of that discretion. Kingsdown Med. Consultants, Ltd. v. Hollister Inc., 863 F.2d 867, 876, 9 USPQ2d 1384, 1392 (Fed.Cir.1988) (en banc in relevant part).

The ultimate determination of whether an invention was on sale under 35 U.S.C. § 102(b) is a question of law subject to plenary review. Brasseler, U.S.A. I, L.P. v. Stryker Sales Corp., 182 F.3d 888, 889, 51 USPQ2d 1470, 1471 (Fed.Cir.1999). This legal determination is, however, based on underlying issues of fact. Weatherchem Corp. v. J.L. Clark, Inc., 163 F.3d 1326, 1332, 49 USPQ2d 1001, 1006 (Fed.Cir.1998).

B. Analysis

1. Claim Construction and Infringement

Allen asserted at trial that Bartell's riding trowels infringe claims 1-4, 6-9, and 13-24. This court's precedent provides a road map for district courts in assessing whether accused devices infringe patent claims. In short, an assessment of whether an accused device infringes claims of a patent necessarily involves both an identification and interpretation of the asserted claims, and a comparison of the properly interpreted claim limitations to the elements of the accused device.

The first step in any such analysis is to construe the claims at issue, which is a matter of law for the court. Markman, 52 F.3d at 976, 34 USPQ2d at 1326. In interpreting the claim limitations, the court should look first to the intrinsic evidence, or in other words "the written description, the drawings, and the prosecution history, if in evidence." Teleflex, Inc. v. Ficosa N. Am. Corp., 299 F.3d 1313, 63 USPQ2d 1374, 1380 (Fed.Cir.2002). The words of...