Gaus v. Conair Corp.
| Decision Date | 01 April 2004 |
| Docket Number | No. 03-1295.,No. 03-131.,03-1295.,03-131. |
| Citation | 363 F.3d 1284 |
| Parties | Dr. Harry GAUS, Plaintiff-Cross Appellant, v. CONAIR CORPORATION, Defendant-Appellant. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Federal Circuit |
Alan M. Anderson, Fulbright & Jaworski L.L.P., of Minneapolis, Minnesota, argued for plaintiff-cross appellant. With him on the brief were Arthur S. Beeman, Susan L. Williams, and Robert H. Eichenberger, Frost Brown Todd LLC, of Louisville, KY. Of counsel were Walter G. Hanchuk and Michael O. Cummings, Morgan & Finnegan, of New York, NY.
Donald R. Dunner, Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner, L.L.P., of Washington, DC, argued for defendant-appellant. With him on the brief were Kara F. Stoll, and Scott A. Herbst, Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner, L.L.P., of Palo Alto, CA. Of counsel on the brief was Albert L. Jacobs, Jr., Greenberg Traurig LLP, of New York, NY.
Before RADER, BRYSON, and DYK, Circuit Judges.
Dr. Harry Gaus filed this patent infringement action in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, No. 94 Civ. 5693, alleging that certain of Conair Corporation's hairdryers infringed his patent, U.S. Patent No. 4,589,047 ("the '047 patent"). The district court granted Conair's motion for summary judgment that Conair's devices did not literally infringe the '047 patent, but it denied Conair's request for summary judgment of noninfringement under the doctrine of equivalents. The case was then tried to a jury, which found that Conair infringed Dr. Gaus's patent under the doctrine of equivalents and that the infringement was willful. The jury awarded Dr. Gaus $28.5 million in compensatory damages, and the district court enhanced that award by $8,550,000 because of Conair's willfulness. We hold that as a matter of law Dr. Gaus's patent did not cover the Conair device, either literally or under the doctrine of equivalents, and we therefore reverse the judgment against Conair.
The '047 patent is directed to a safety mechanism that prevents fatal shocks to users of electrical appliances such as hairdryers. In the case of a hairdryer, the patented mechanism works by disconnecting the hairdryer from its power source when the hairdryer comes into contact with water. In an unprotected device, if water contacts a voltage-carrying element, such as a hairdryer heating coil or blower, a fatal electric shock can be carried through the water to the user of the device.
The patent describes protective circuitry that includes "a pair of spaced-apart electrically exposed conductive probe networks." When there is no water between the two probe networks, no current flows through the protective circuitry. When water is present, however, the impedance between the probe networks is lowered, and current passes through the protective circuitry. When that occurs, the current melts a resistance element (essentially a fuse). When the resistance element melts, current stops flowing to the voltage-carrying portions of the device, such as the blower and heater of the hairdryer, and the user receives no shock.
The protective circuitry in the accused Conair hairdryer does not include a pair of probe networks separate from the voltage-carrying operating unit of the appliance (in a hairdryer, the heater and blower). Instead, the Conair device has a single sense wire that branches throughout the housing near the voltage-carrying operating elements of the device. When water is disposed between the sense wire and the electrical operating portion of the device, the impedance between the sense wire and the electrical operating portion is lowered. The low impedance causes current to flow through the protective circuit, which in turn causes the device to be disconnected from the power supply.
In its motion for summary judgment of noninfringement, Conair argued that its accused hairdryer did not contain "a pair of spaced-apart electrically exposed conductive probe networks," as required by the asserted claim, claim 12 of the '047 patent. Conair argued that the protective circuit in its hairdryer included only a single sense wire, rather than a pair of probes, and that its protective system was triggered when current passed between the single sense wire and the voltage-carrying components of the hairdryer, rather than when current passed between the two components of the pair of probe networks recited by the claim. Conair also argued that the patent required that all of the protective circuitry be included within the housing of the hairdryer, while some of the protective circuitry of the accused product was located in the wall plug. The district court agreed that the patent required that all of the protective circuitry be located within the housing and granted summary judgment of no literal infringement on that ground.1 The court, however, did not agree with Conair on the "pair of ... probe networks" limitation, and it held that Conair was not entitled to summary judgment of noninfringement under the doctrine of equivalents.
The case proceeded to trial on a theory of infringement under the doctrine of equivalents. At the close of the evidence, Conair moved under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 50(a) for judgment of noninfringement as a matter of law. In what it characterized as an abbreviated summary of its grounds for relief, Conair argued, inter alia, that there was no infringement based on the "all elements rule" and "specification estoppel." The district court denied Conair's motion, and the case went to the jury. Following the jury's verdict, Conair renewed its motion, which was again denied.
Conair argues that claim 12 of the '047 patent requires that the device contain a "pair of ... probe networks" that is separate from its voltage-carrying operating portions. The Conair hairdryer does not infringe, according to Conair, because the protective system in its hairdryer has only a single probe, which functions in conjunction with the voltage-carrying operating portion of the hairdryer, not in conjunction with a second element of a pair of probes. Conair contends that the '047 patent disclaims a protective system such as Conair's and that Conair's hairdryer therefore does not infringe, either literally or under the doctrine of equivalents.
In pertinent part, claim 12 recites the following:
A hazard prevention device for an electrical externally powered apparatus comprising:
a housing, said housing having at least one opening and said housing comprising an electrical operating unit and a pair of spaced-apart electrically exposed conductive probe networks, said pair being responsive to the entry of a conductive fluid electrically reducing the impedance between said probe networks of said pair....
Preliminarily, Dr. Gaus argues that Conair waived any challenge to the jury's verdict of infringement under the doctrine of equivalents by failing to challenge the sufficiency of the evidence with the requisite specificity in its preverdict Rule 50(a) motion. Citing Duro-Last, Inc. v. Custom Seal, Inc., 321 F.3d 1098, 1105 (Fed.Cir. 2003), Dr. Gaus asserts that simply listing the grounds on which Conair based its Rule 50(a) motion was insufficient to put Dr. Gaus on notice as to what Conair alleged to be deficient in Dr. Gaus's evidence.
The district court, which was in the best position to judge the sufficiency of the Rule 50(a) motion in the context of the trial, held that the motion was sufficient, particularly in light of the fact that "liability under the doctrine of equivalents has been the central issue in this case since [the district court] determined ... that Gaus' patent was not literally infringed." We decline to upset that determination. While the references to the "all elements" rule and "specification estoppel" constituted a terse — even cryptic — statement of the grounds for Conair's motion for a judgment of noninfringement as a matter of law, we are not persuaded that those references were inadequate to apprise Dr. Gaus of the grounds on which Conair was basing its motion.
In its post-trial motion for judgment as a matter of law, Conair argued, inter alia, that the Conair device lacked one of the limitations set forth in the asserted claim — the pair of conductive probe networks — and that the specification made clear that the invention did not encompass structure such as that found in Conair's device. Those are the same arguments that Conair raised in its Rule 50(a) motion, albeit in abbreviated form. Under these circumstances, we are not disposed to override the district court's determination that Conair did not waive its noninfringement claim by failing to make an adequate Rule 50(a) motion at the close of the evidence.
Dr. Gaus also argues that Conair urged a new claim construction for the first time after trial and on appeal. Dr. Gaus contends that Conair did not make the argument earlier and therefore has waived it. We disagree with the premise of Dr. Gaus's argument, however. Before trial Conair argued that the "pair of probe networks" limitation should be construed to require
two corresponding things designed for use together the functioning of which are independent of the other voltage carrying portions of the hairdryer to be protected and which are configured such that the trigger switch current will respond before the penetrating water reaches any other voltage carrying portions of the hairdryer, such as the heating coil.
After trial and on appeal, Conair has argued that the pair of probe networks must be construed to mean "a pair of probe networks that is separate and operates independently from any voltage carrying part of the apparatus and which will effect a current shut off (upon entry of water) before water touches any voltage carrying part of the apparatus." While the two formulations employ somewhat different language, they embody the same concept — that the probe network must contain...
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