Leggett & Platt, Inc. v. Hickory Springs Mfg. Co., 01-1255.

• Decision Date: 02 April 2002
• Docket Number: No. 01-1255.,01-1255.
• Citation: 285 F.3d 1353
• Parties: LEGGETT & PLATT, INCORPORATED, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. HICKORY SPRINGS MANUFACTURING COMPANY, Defendant-Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Federal Circuit

285 F.3d 1353

LEGGETT & PLATT, INCORPORATED, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. HICKORY SPRINGS MANUFACTURING COMPANY, Defendant-Appellee.

No. 01-1255.

United States Court of Appeals, Federal Circuit.

April 2, 2002.

Rehearing and Rehearing En Banc Denied May 9, 2002.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Lawrence G. Kurland, Bryan Cave LLP, of St. Louis, MO, argued for plaintiff-appellant. With him on the brief were Thomas C. Walsh; David A. Roodman and K. Lee Marshall.

Donald W. Rupert, Mayer, Brown & Platt, of Chicago, IL, argued for defendant-appellee. With him on the brief were Robert F. Finke and David M. Thimmig.

Before CLEVENGER, RADER, and BRYSON, Circuit Judges.

RADER, Circuit Judge.

On summary judgment, the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois determined that Hickory Springs Manufacturing Co. (Hickory) did not infringe claims 4 and 5 of Leggett & Platt, Inc.'s (L & P) U.S. Patent No. 5,052,064 (the '064 patent) either literally or under the doctrine of equivalents. Leggett & Platt, Inc. v. Hickory Springs Mfg., 132 F.Supp.2d 643, 653 (N.D.Ill. 2001). The district court also determined that Hickory did not misappropriate L & P's trade secrets. Id. Because genuine issues of material fact preclude summary judgment on infringement of the '064 patent under the doctrine of equivalents and trade secrets violations, this court affirms-in-part, reverses-in-part, and remands.

I.

The '064 patent issued on October 1, 1991 to Robert C. Hagemeister, Steven E. Ogle, and Thomas J. Wells. The inventors assigned the patent to L & P. The patent claims a stackable bedding foundation, often known as a box spring assembly. The patent's "Background of the Invention" explains that prior art box spring assemblies are bulky and costly to ship to the manufacturer for application of padding and covering. To reduce the shipping space requirements for bulky box spring assemblies, "it is customary to compress the assemblies to reduce their individual thicknesses and, when compressed, to tie them in their compressed state." '064 patent, col. 1, ll. 17-19. The '064 invention addresses these problems. The patent claims a box spring that is "nestably stackable." In other words, the claimed box springs stack within other box spring assemblies for transportation "without having to compress and tie the assembly." Id. at col. 1, ll. 28-29.

Hickory's accused product is known as the PowerStack. Whether the accused product infringes the patent literally or under the doctrine of equivalents turns upon one limitation in the claims. Claims 4 and 5 of the '064 patent are at issue. Claim 4 reads:

4. A nestably stackable assembly for use in a bedding foundation comprising a rectangular border wire having two parallel sides and two parallel ends, transversely-spaced, parallel, and longitudinally-extending support wires parallel to said border wire sides and having ends connected to said border wire ends, said support wires being formed so as to be generally corrugated along their lengths, said corrugatedly formed support wires having peaks and valleys, said peaks being flattened at their tops, said flattened peaks being generally coplanar with a plane defined by said border wire, said valleys being vertically displaced beneath and intermediate of said flattened peaks, and

longitudinally-spaced, parallel, and transversely-extending upper connector wires parallel to said border wire ends and having ends connected to said border wire sides, said upper connector wires being connected intermediate of their ends along their lengths to said flattened peaks of said support wires.

'064 patent, col. 4, ll. 60-68, and col. 5, ll. 1-14 (emphasis added).

Fig. 6 shows the "corrugatedly formed support wires having peaks and valleys":

NOTE: OPINION CONTAINING TABLE OR OTHER DATA THAT IS NOT VIEWABLE

On April 20, 1999, L & P filed an action in the district court, alleging that Hickory's box spring assembly, PowerStack, infringed L & P's '064 patent. L & P also charged Hickory with patent infringement under 35 U.S.C. § 271(b) (inducing third parties to infringe), tortious interference with contract, and misappropriation of trade secrets. On August 3 and 10, 2000, the district court held a Markman hearing to construe the meaning of the disputed claim term "support wires." In its September 5, 2000 opinion, the court determined that "`support wires' require that the wire be a continuous strand of wire which may be formed by butt-welding, end to end, shorter segments of wire.'" Leggett & Platt, Inc. v. Hickory Springs Mfg. Co., 2000 WL 1269363, at *7 (N.D.Ill.) (citations omitted). After granting L & P's motion to reconsider, the court decided to clarify the definition to include welds other than butt-welds and explained that "`a support wire, regardless of how many original pieces it had prior to welding (i.e., if welded at all), must have only two ends.'" Leggett & Platt, 132 F.Supp.2d at 645 (citations omitted).

The parties filed cross motions for summary judgment, with Hickory asking for summary judgment on all four counts and L & P seeking partial summary judgment only on the tortious interference and trade secret counts. The district court granted Hickory's motion for summary judgment, and denied L & P's motion for partial summary judgment. L & P appeals the summary judgment of non-infringement and no misappropriation of trade secrets. This court has jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1295(a)(1) (1994).

II.

This court reviews grants of summary judgment without deference. Johns Hopkins Univ. v. Cellpro, Inc., 152 F.3d 1342, 1353, 47 USPQ2d 1705, 1713 (Fed. Cir.1998). This court must decide for itself "if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law." Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c); Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986). In making this determination, this court views the record in a light most favorable to the non-moving party. Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 255, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986); C.R. Bard, Inc. v. Advanced Cardiovascular Sys., Inc., 911 F.2d 670, 672, 15 USPQ2d 1540, 1542-43 (Fed.Cir.1990). "Infringement under the doctrine of equivalents requires an intensely factual inquiry." Vehicular Tech. Corp. v. Titan Wheel Int'l, Inc., 212 F.3d 1377, 1381, 54 USPQ2d 1841, 1844 (Fed. Cir.2000). Thus, this court will only affirm the district court's grant of summary judgment if the record contains no genuine issue of material fact and leaves no room for a reasonable jury to find equivalence. Id.; Warner-Jenkinson Co. v. Hilton Davis Chem. Co., 520 U.S. 17, 39 n. 8, 117 S.Ct. 1040, 137 L.Ed.2d 146, 41 USPQ2d 1865, 1876 n. 8 (1997).

An infringement analysis requires the trial court to determine the meaning and scope of the asserted patent claims. Markman v. Westview Instruments, Inc., 52 F.3d 967, 976 (Fed.Cir. 1995) (en banc), aff'd, 517 U.S. 370, 116 S.Ct. 1384, 134 L.Ed.2d 577 (1996). As a general rule, terms in a patent claim receive their plain, ordinary, and accepted meaning within the community of those of ordinary skill in the relevant art. Toro Co. v. White Consol. Indus., Inc., 199 F.3d 1295, 1299, 53 USPQ2d 1065, 1067 (Fed. Cir.1999). A "heavy presumption" favors this accepted meaning. Johnson Worldwide Assocs., Inc. v. Zebco Corp., 175 F.3d 985, 989, 50 USPQ2d 1607, 1610 (Fed.Cir. 1999). To discern accepted meaning, however, the construing court consults the specification and relevant prosecution history to provide context for understanding the meaning of the terms to one of skill in the art at the time of invention. Pitney Bowes, Inc. v. Hewlett-Packard Co., 182 F.3d 1298, 1309, 51 USPQ2d 1161, 1169 (Fed.Cir.1999). In consulting the specification, however, the interpretative process may not import limitations from the specification into the defining language of the claims. Intervet Am., Inc. v. Kee-Vet Labs., Inc., 887 F.2d 1050, 1053, 12 USPQ2d 1474, 1476 (Fed.Cir.1989).

In the present case, L & P contends that the term "support wires" includes an assembly of separate wires welded together. In sum, L & P argues that "support wires" are merely the wires that absorb any vertical load on the bedding foundation. Because the invention depicts welds joining the wires to support a vertical load, L & P's proposed claim construction would consider the entire '064 assembly a single wire.

At the outset, the claim recites "support wires" in the plural, thus requiring more than one welded "support wire." The specification does not set forth any definition of the term "support wires." Instead the specification describes "support wires" in language that tracks closely the claim language. '064 Patent, col. 1, ll. 44-49. The specification does, however, refer to a number of other wires — for example, a border wire and connector wires. Thus, the specification distinguishes support wires from other types of wire. The specification identifies these separate wires as performing different functions, such as connecting or forming a border. When discussing welds to join separate wires, the specification retains the distinguishing name and identity of each joined wire. See, e.g., '064 Patent, col. 3, ll. 3-5. Finally, the specification expressly refers to "support wire ends," which attach to the border wire. '064 Patent, col. 2, ll. 57-59. Because the figures depict the support wires stretching from one border to the other, the specification suggests that the support wire ends attach only to the borders. The specification does not mention any support wire ends other than those attached to the border wire. Thus the specification does not discuss a "support wire" composed of multiple wires welded together and, consequently, having a number of ends.

Turning to the prosecution history, the...