Brenner v. U.S., Nos. 85-653
| Court | United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit |
| Writing for the Court | Before MARKEY, Chief Judge, DAVIS and SMITH; MARKEY |
| Citation | 227 USPQ 159,773 F.2d 306 |
| Parties | William BRENNER and Sydney Koslow, Appellants, v. The UNITED STATES and Pitney Bowes, Inc., Appellees. Appeal |
| Docket Number | Nos. 85-653,85-975 and 85-1919 |
| Decision Date | 18 September 1985 |
Page 306
v.
The UNITED STATES and Pitney Bowes, Inc., Appellees.
Federal Circuit.
James P. Malone, Rockville Centre, N.Y., argued for appellants.
Jessie J. Jenner, Fish & Neave, New York City, argued for appellee Pitney Bowes. With him on brief was Lars I. Kulleseid and Robert J. Goldman.
Jerry H. Nelson, Commercial Litigation Branch, Dept. of Justice, Washington, D.C., argued for appellee U.S. With him on brief were Richard K. Willard, Acting Atty. Gen., and Vito J. DiPietro, Director. Thomas J. Byrnes, Civil Div., Dept. of Justice, Washington, D.C., of counsel.
Before MARKEY, Chief Judge, DAVIS and SMITH, Circuit Judges.
MARKEY, Chief Judge.
Brenner and Koslow (Brenner) appeal from a grant by the United States Claims Court of Pitney Bowes, Inc.'s motion for summary judgment of non-infringement. We affirm.
Brenner sued the United States, * alleging that the United States Postal Service (USPS) was infringing U.S. Patent Nos. 3,609,694 (the '694 patent) and 3,246,751 (the '751 patent). The patents disclose and claim a system for coding and sorting mail. The '694 patent claims a means for applying
Page 307
an uncoded but "codable" piece of material, such as a magnetic, thermoplastic or electrostatic strip, to an article of mail. Address information is then imparted to the material, i.e., to code that material, as the article moves into "operative electrical engagement" with an electric recording device. The '751 patent claims a means for automatically sorting the mail to which the "electrostatically codable" material has been adhered.During the prosecution of the '751 patent, Brenner amended the claims by changing the phrase "electrostatically coded" to read "electrostatically codable." Brenner remarked in a supplemental amendment that this change more accurately reflected the device "since when the material is placed on the mail it is not yet coded...." He made similar distinctions to overcome prior art rejections when prosecuting the parent application of the '694 patent. He stressed the importance of the applied material's erasability.
Defendant's allegedly infringing system is also used for mail coding and sorting. It, however, employs an ink jet printer which shoots ink toward a target surface directly on the article. The ink, i.e., the material applied, is not "codable". The ink droplets are deflected electrically to form a pattern corresponding to a desired bar pattern. That pattern is not erasable as are the adhesive strips in the '694 and '751 patents.
The Claims Court found that the...
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Avia Group Intern., Inc. v. L.A. Gear California, Inc., No. 87-1505
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