Liquid Dynamics Corp. v. Vaughan Co., Inc.
| Decision Date | 23 January 2004 |
| Docket Number | No. 03-1208.,No. 03-1146.,No. 03-1147.,03-1146.,03-1147.,03-1208. |
| Citation | 355 F.3d 1361 |
| Parties | LIQUID DYNAMICS CORPORATION, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. VAUGHAN COMPANY, INC., Defendant-Cross Appellant. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Federal Circuit |
Mark W. Hetzler, Fitch, Even, Tabin & Flannery, of Chicago, IL, argued for plaintiff-appellant. With him on the brief were Jon A. Birmingham and Steven C. Schroer, of Fitch, Even, etc., of Boulder, CO.
Robert J. Carlson, Christensen O'Connor Johnson Kindness PLLC, of Seattle, WA, argued for defendant-cross appellant. With him on the brief were Ward Brown and Mark P. Walters.
Before LOURIE, GAJARSA, and DYK, Circuit Judges.
Liquid Dynamics Corporation ("Liquid Dynamics"), the owner by assignment of United States Patent No. 5,458,414 ("the '414 patent"), appeals from the final judgment of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, granting summary judgment of non-infringement in favor of defendant the Vaughan Company ("Vaughan"), with respect to the '414 patent. Vaughan cross-appeals the district court's dismissal as moot of its counterclaims of invalidity and inequitable conduct. Liquid Dynamics Corp. v. Vaughan Co., Inc., No. 01-C6934, 2002 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14102, 2002 WL 1769979 (N.D.Ill. July 31, 2002) ("Liquid Dynamics"). Because the district court erred in construing the claim term "a substantial helical flow path" and in requiring a flow that emanates from the tank center and returns to the center after one rotation, we vacate and remand.
Liquid Dynamics brought the action against Vaughan for infringement of the '414 patent under 35 U.S.C. § 271 et seq. in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. Vaughan counterclaimed for invalidity and inequitable conduct. The district court, after construing the claims of the '414 patent and comparing the claims to the allegedly infringing products, granted Vaughan summary judgment of non-infringement and mooted Vaughan's counterclaims.
This case involves the structure of slurry tanks. Slurry tanks are used to store and process chemicals and organic waste products (e.g., manure) that retain value as useful inputs (e.g., fertilizer) into other processes. Large storage tanks house these waste compounds in liquid or semisolid form between their production and their subsequent use. The liquid and solid components of these waste compounds tend to separate when stored, with solid particles either forming a crust on the top of the tank and/or falling to the bottom of the tank. Productive use of the stored compound requires remixing both to suspend the heavy solid particles within the liquid and to ensure that the resulting suspension is uniform. One standard approach has been to stir the mix continuously to avoid settling. Because continuous mixing can be expensive, however, tank designers sought ways to store the mixtures in a still tank, to allow the settling to occur, and to remix only when necessary for use. The '414 patent addressed these concerns.
The '414 patent has a total of 11 claims. Claims 1 and 8 are independent; the remaining nine claims are dependent. The invention is a method and apparatus for handling wastewater slurries: a storage tank equipped with submerged agitators capable of generating a flow of liquid throughout the tank. The disagreement between the parties turns on the interpretation of four phrases contained in Claim 1, and identical phrases in independent Claim 8. Claim 1 claims:
Apparatus for storing a slurry having solid and liquid components, comprising:
a storage tank defining a volume for holding a body of liquid and solid slurry components, including a floor of generally circular configuration and having a center, said storage tank further including an outer surrounding wall positioned generally at a radial distance from the center;
at least two flow generating means positioned to be submerged within the liquid and solid slurry components for generating flow of at least one of the slurry components along a rotational direction, each of said flow generating means being disposed at distances from the center ranging between approximately 30 percent and 70 percent of said radial distance each of said first and second flow generating devices pointed in the direction for generating flows of the liquid and solid components from the respective flow generating means directed in the same rotational sense,
[1] said first and second flow generating means being directed at an angle to the radius to generate flows with tangential components of flow to impart a rotational movement of the entire body of liquid and solid components;
each of said first and second flow generating means being pointed toward the outer surrounding wall for generating
[2] a substantial helical flow path of the liquid and solid components therein
[3] with the liquid and solid components traveling outwardly, across the tank floor from the center portion of the tank toward the tank wall and then upwardly along the tank outer surrounding wall to a first point and then inwardly along an upper portion of the body toward the center of the tank and then downwardly toward the tank floor, and then outwardly to a second point spaced circumferentially in the direction of rotation of the entire body of liquid, the liquid and solid components continuing to travel in the helical path as the entire body of liquid and solid components continues to rotate;
a pressure source coupled to the first and second flow generating means to generate directed streams from the flow generating means to rotate the body of liquid and solid components and to cause the flow in the helical path; and
[4] said flow generating means creating a substantially volume filling flow of at least one of the slurry components within said storage tank which mixes the liquid and solid slurry components to form a substantially homogeneous slurry suitable for unloading from said storage tank using liquid handling devices.
'414 patent, cols. 8-9 (emphases added).1
Original Claim 1, filed with the application that matured into the '414 patent with the United States Patent and Trademark Office ("PTO"), contained phrase 4 but did not contain phrases 1, 2, or 3. Specifically, original Claim 1 read:
Apparatus for storing a slurry having solid and liquid components, comprising:
a storage tank defining a volume for holding the liquid and solid slurry components, including a floor of generally circular configuration and having a center portion, said storage tank further including an outer surrounding wall positioned generally at a preselected radial distance from the center portion; and
at least two flow generating means positioned to be submerged within the liquid and solid slurry components for generating flow of at least one of the slurry components along a preselected direction, said flow generating means being disposed only at distances from the center ranging between approximately 30 percent and 70 percent of said preselected radial distance;
[4] said flow generating means creating a substantially volume filling flow of at least one of the slurry components within said storage tank which mixes the liquid and solid slurry components to form a substantially homogeneous slurry suitable for unloading from said storage tank using liquid handling devices.2
The patent examiner rejected the original Claim 1 as obvious in light of the prior art. The examiner also indicated that the original Claim 1 was "generic" and required the applicant to "elect a single disclosed species for prosecution" under 35 U.S.C. § 121. Amended Claim 1 added phrases 1, 2, and 3, and introduced other minor changes not at issue here.
Amended Claim 1 introduced new limitations on the claimed flow. Whereas original Claim 1 referred only to a "flow," amended Claim 1 required "a substantial helical flow path" (phrase 2) traveling "outwardly, across the tank floor from the center portion of the tank toward the tank wall and then upwardly along the tank outer surrounding wall to a first point and then inwardly along an upper portion of the body toward the center of the tank and then downwardly toward the tank floor, and then outwardly to a second point spaced circumferentially in the direction of rotation of the entire body of liquid" (phrase 3). The PTO accepted Claim 1 as amended and issued the patent. Amended Claim 1 issued as Claim 1 of the '414 patent.
The '414 patent was assigned to Liquid Dynamics' predecessor, Great Lakes Aqua Sales and Service, Inc. ("Great Lakes"). To support its counterclaims of invalidity and inequitable conduct, Vaughan alleged that Great Lakes made, used, and sold three mixing systems having the characteristics originally claimed in the '414 patent more than a year before filing the original application — and submitted documentary evidence to support these allegations.
Liquid Dynamics claimed that 47 of Vaughan's customized slurry tank systems infringe the '414 patent. Vaughan denied the allegations and counterclaimed for invalidity, inequitable conduct, and attorneys fees. Vaughan subsequently moved for summary judgment on grounds of non-infringement, invalidity, and inequitable conduct. The district court disposed of all issues in a single ruling. See generally, Liquid Dynamics.
On the matter of claim construction, the trial judge noted that "phrases 1 and 4 are unambiguous and claim construction is unnecessary," Liquid Dynamics at *20, 2002 WL 1769979, but that phrases 2 and 3 required, "[p]roper claim interpretation [by] examination of the claim language, the patent specification, and the prosecution history." Id. at *10, 2002 WL 1769979.
Both parties suggested interpretations that treated phrases 2 and 3 as a single limitation. Vaughan suggested that...
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