Ideal Instruments v. Rivard Instruments, C 05-3079-MWB.

• Citation: 498 F.Supp.2d 1131
• Decision Date: 10 August 2007
• Docket Number: No. C 05-3079-MWB.,C 05-3079-MWB.
• Parties: IDEAL INSTRUMENTS, INC., a Michigan corporation, Plaintiff, v. RIVARD INSTRUMENTS, INC., a foreign corporation, and Meril Rivard, a foreign national, Defendants.
• Court: United States District Courts. 8th Circuit. Northern District of Iowa

498 F.Supp.2d 1131

IDEAL INSTRUMENTS, INC., a Michigan corporation, Plaintiff, v. RIVARD INSTRUMENTS, INC., a foreign corporation, and Meril Rivard, a foreign national, Defendants.

No. C 05-3079-MWB.

United States District Court, N.D. Iowa, Central Division.

August 10, 2007.

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Jay Eaton, Nyemaster Goode Voigts West Hansell & O'Brien, PC, Des Moines, IA, Katherine A. Weed, Fraser Trebilcock Davis & Dunlap, P.C., Detroit, MI, Mark R. Fox, Toni L. Harris, Fraser, Trebilcock, Davis & Dunlap, P.C., Lansing, MI, for Plaintiff.

Amy M. Bjork, Angela Ellen Dralle, Dennis Wayne Johnson, Dorsey & Whitney, G. Brian Pingel, Brown, Winick, Graves, Gross, Baskerville and Schoenebaum, Des Moines, IA, Catherine S. Collins, Deidre D. Link, Karl T. Ondersma, Terence J. Linn, Van Dyke, Gardner, Linn & Burkhart, LLP, Grand Rapids, MI, for Defendants.

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER REGARDING CONSTRUCTION OF DISPUTED PATENT CLAIM TERMS

BENNETT, District Judge.

                TABLE OF CONTENTS
                1.  INTRODUCTION.........................................................................................1136
                A.  Procedural History...............................................................................1136
                B.  Factual Background...............................................................................1137
                1.  The parties..................................................................................1137
                2.  The patents..................................................................................1137
                3.  Common portions of the patents...............................................................1138
                4.  Pertinent claims of the '668 patent..........................................................1143
                5.  Pertinent claims of the '196 patent..........................................................1144
                C.  Agreed Constructions.............................................................................1146
                D.  Constructions In Dispute.........................................................................1146
                II.  LEGAL ANALYSIS.......................................................................................1150
                A.  Principles Of Patent Claim Construction..........................................................1150
                1.  The Phillips methodology.....................................................................1150
                a.  The starting point.......................................................................1150
                b.  Hierarchy of evidence....................................................................1150
                2.  Other canons of claim construction...........................................................1154
                3.  The court's independent obligation to construe terms.........................................1155
                B.  Terms Of The '668 Patent.........................................................................1155
                1.  "Stainless steel"............................................................................1155
                a.  Arguments of the parties.................................................................1156
                b.  Analysis.................................................................................1157
                2.  "Stainless steel" comprising certain elements................................................1158
                a.  Arguments of the parties.................................................................1158
                b.  Analysis.................................................................................1159
                i.  Characterization of the material...................................................1159
                ii.  Identification of elements.........................................................1160
                iii.  Chromium content and other alleged ambiguities.....................................1160
                iv.  Weight percentage ranges...........................................................1162
                v.  The court's construction...........................................................1163
                3.  "Rendered magnetic" or "is magnetized".......................................................1164
                a.  Arguments of the parties.................................................................1165
                b.  Analysis.................................................................................1167
                i.  Difference in words or difference in meaning?......................................1167
                ii.  Permanent and residual magnetism...................................................1168
                iii.  Capacity to be magnetized..........................................................1168
                iv.  Time at which the needle is rendered magnetic......................................1171
                v.  Magnetized to a level that enables detection.......................................1174
                vi.  The court's construction...........................................................1175
                4.  "The wall has a thickness of greater than 0.018 inch"........................................1175
                

                a.  Arguments of the parties.................................................................1176
                b.  Analysis.................................................................................1176
                i.  Relationship to independent claims.................................................1176
                ii.  Other intrinsic evidence...........................................................1177
                iii.  The court's construction...........................................................1179
                5.  "The needle has an inside diameter of about 0.046 inch and an
                                outside diameter of 0.018 inch"..................................................................1179
                a.  Arguments of the parties.................................................................1179
                b.  Analysis.................................................................................1180
                i.  Source of the error in the impossible claim........................................1180
                ii.  Construction of the approximation..................................................1181
                iii.  Inside diameter....................................................................1183
                iv.  The court's construction...........................................................1183
                C.  Terms Of The '196 Patent.........................................................................1183
                1.  Agreed constructions.........................................................................1183
                2.  Disputed constructions.......................................................................1184
                a.  "Gauge"..................................................................................1184
                i.  Arguments of the parties...........................................................1184
                ii.  Analysis...........................................................................1185
                iii.  The court's construction...........................................................1187
                b.  "Stainless steel"........................................................................1187
                i.  Analysis............................................................................1188
                ii.  The court's construction...........................................................1195
                c.  "Magnetic or magnetizable"...............................................................1195
                i.  Arguments of the parties...........................................................1195
                ii.  Analysis...........................................................................1195
                iii.  The court's construction...........................................................1198
                d.  Comparison to dimensions of "the standard needle cannula"................................1198
                i.  Arguments of the parties...........................................................1199
                ii.  Analysis...........................................................................1200
                iii.  The court's construction...........................................................1206
                e.  Terms in "whereby," "so that," or "such that" clauses....................................1206
                i.  Arguments of the parties...........................................................1207
                ii.  Analysis...........................................................................1208
                iii.  The court's conclusion.............................................................1213
                f.  "The sidewalls flanking the lumen has [sic] a combined
                                   thickness of about 0.025 inch"................................................................1213
                i.  Arguments of the parties............................................................1213
                ii.  Analysis............................................................................1214
                iii.  The court's construction............................................................1215
                g.  "Stainless steel comprising" certain elements............................................1215
                h.  "The needle cannula or piece thereof is magnetized.......................................1215
                III.  CONCLUSION...........................................................................................1216
                

Although this patent infringement action has been before the court for the disposition of several weighty matters,¹ this ruling is the first in which the focus is the patents-in-suit themselves, which are for "detectable" hypodermic needles for livestock. Specifically, this matter comes before the court for construction of disputed patent claim terms, i.e., for a ruling after a so-called "Markman hearing." See Markman v. Westview Instruments, Inc., 52 F.3d 967 (Fed.Cir.1995) (en Banc), aff'd, 517 U.S. 370, 116 S.Ct. 1384, 134 L.Ed.2d 577 (1996). The parties' positions on claim construction appear to be as irreconcilable as their positions have been on nearly every substantive issue so far in this case: The parties have agreed on the construction of only two claim terms, but dispute whether another sixteen claim terms in the two patents require any construction at all, and if so, what construction to give them.

I. INTRODUCTION

A. Procedural History

Pursuant to a...