Relume Corp. v. Dialight Corp.

• Decision Date: 26 August 1999
• Docket Number: No. 98-CV-72360.,98-CV-72360.
• Citation: 63 F.Supp.2d 788
• Parties: RELUME CORPORATION, Plaintiff, v. DIALIGHT CORPORATION, Ecolux, Inc., Precision Solar Controls, Inc., Lumileds Lighting BV, Philips Lighting BV, and Hewlett-Packard Company, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Michigan

63 F.Supp.2d 788

RELUME CORPORATION, Plaintiff, v. DIALIGHT CORPORATION, Ecolux, Inc., Precision Solar Controls, Inc., Lumileds Lighting BV, Philips Lighting BV, and Hewlett-Packard Company, Defendants.

No. 98-CV-72360.

United States District Court, E.D. Michigan, Southern Division.

August 26, 1999.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Timothy J. Haller, Robert P. Greenspan, Niro, Scavone, Haller & Niro, Chicago, IL Edward J. Hood, Clark Hill, PLC, Detroit, MI, for plaintiff.

Jeffrey D. Weisserman, Thomas L. Shaevsky, Jaffe, Raitt, Heuer & Weiss, PC, Detroit, MI, Charles L. Giholz, Surinder Sacher, Martin M. Zoltick, Oblon, Spivak, McClelland, Maier & Neustadt, PC, Arlington, VA, for Dialight, defendant.

Keith H. Orum, Dvorak & Orum, Chicago, IL, Kevin J. Heinl, Brooks & Kushman, PC, Southfield, MI, Mark D. Roth, Patrick J. Nash, Jr., Pretzel & Stouffer, One S. Wacker Dr., Chicago, IL, for Ecolux, defendant.

Robert A. Molan, Nixon & Vanderhye, PC, Arlington, VA, Dennis J. Levasseur, Thomas G. Cecil, Bodman, Longley & Dahling LLP, Detroit, MI, for Precision Solar Controls.

John M. DiMatteo, Patterson, Belknap, Webb & Tyler, LLP, New York, NY, James R. Case, Kerr, Russell & Webber, PLC, Detroit, MI, for Hewlett-Packard, Lumileds Lighting, Philips Lighting, defendants.

OPINION AND ORDER

FEIKENS, District Judge.

Introduction

Before me is a multi-patent infringement dispute between competitors in the light emitting diode ("LED") traffic signal industry. At issue are summary judgment motions regarding patent noninfringement and validity filed by defendants Dialight Corporation ("Dialight"), Ecolux, Inc. ("Ecolux"), Precision Solar Controls, Inc. ("Precision"), Lumileds Lighting BV ("Lumileds"), Philips Lighting BV ("Philips"), and Hewlett-Packard Company ("Hewlett-Packard").

I. Background

All parties are involved in the design, development, manufacture, assembly, and/or sales of LED traffic signals. Most traffic signals in the United States use incandescent light bulbs, which produce light by heating a filament in the bulb's vacuum chamber with electric current. The heated filament gives off light. Simple incandescence is inefficient, however, since it wastes most of the electrical energy it consumes as heat.

LEDs offer a solution to this problem because they do not use a heated filament to produce light. Instead they use a tiny piece of specially formulated semiconductor material that emits light when an electric current passes through it. LEDs have existed for decades, and so has knowledge of their energy savings advantage over incandescent bulbs, but their use in traffic signals is a relatively new application.

On June 27, 1996, Peter Hochstein, a Relume employee, filed a patent application with the U.S.Patent Office, in which he claimed a variety of power supply inventions for retrofit LED arrays, i.e., arrays that can replace incandescent bulbs in devices originally built for incandescent illumination. On August 26, 1997, the Patent Office issued that application as U.S.Patent No. 5,661,645 ("the '645 patent"). The '645 patent lists Hochstein as its inventor.

On January 10, 1997, Hochstein filed another patent application with the Patent Office, in which he claimed various inventions related to a temperature compensation circuit for LEDs. This circuit functions as a feedback loop to prevent an LED's light intensity from decreasing as temperature increases. On July 21, 1998, the Patent Office issued this second application as U.S.Patent No. 5,783,909. The '909 patent lists Hochstein as its inventor.

Relume's suit against defendants alleges infringement of its '645 and '909 patents. All defendants have argued in response that their accused products do not infringe Relume's patents. Three defendants — Lumileds, Philips, and Hewlett-Packard (collectively "Lumileds") — have also argued that Relume's patents are invalid and unenforceable in light of relevant prior art Relume did not make available to the Patent Office during the prosecution of its patents. Defendants' summary judgment motions address these issues. Relume has filed no summary judgment motions.

II. Summary Judgment Standard

Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 56(c) provides that a summary judgment shall issue "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." A genuine issue of material fact does not exist "[w]here the record taken as a whole could not lead a rational trier of fact to find for the nonmoving party." Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 587, 106 S.Ct. 1348, 89 L.Ed.2d 538 (1986). The movant has the initial burden of showing that no genuine issue of material fact exists. See Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 323, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986); see also Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c).

Once the movant meets this initial burden, the nonmovant "must set forth specific facts showing that there is a genuine issue for trial." Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(e). These specific facts must constitute "sufficient evidence favoring the nonmoving party." Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 249, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). Evidence that is "merely colorable" or "not significantly probative" will not demonstrate a need for trial. Id. at 249-50, 106 S.Ct. 2505. Likewise, "[t]he mere existence of a scintilla of evidence in support of the [nonmovant's] position will be insufficient; there must be evidence on which the jury could reasonably find for the [nonmovant]." Id. at 252, 106 S.Ct. 2505 (emphasis added).

The essence of the summary judgment inquiry is this: "whether the evidence presents a sufficient disagreement to require submission to a jury or whether it is so one-sided that one party must prevail as a matter of law." Id. at 251-52, 106 S.Ct. 2505. In addressing this inquiry, I must view the evidence, and all reasonable inferences drawn from it, "in the light most favorable to the party opposing the motion." Matsushita, 475 U.S. at 587, 106 S.Ct. 1348.

III. Literal Infringement

In their summary judgment motions, all defendants assert literal noninfringement of claims 1, 2, 4, 5, and 6 of the '645 patent. As to the '909 patent, all defendants except Precision¹ assert literal noninfringement of claims 1 and 10 — the independent claims of that patent. Defendants also assert noninfringement of the '645 and '909 patents under the doctrine of equivalents.

For Relume to establish literal infringement, "every limitation set forth in a claim must be found in the accused product or process exactly." Becton Dickinson and Co. v. C.R. Bard, Inc., 922 F.2d 792, 796 (Fed.Cir.1990). Determining literal infringement is a "two-step process." Id. As a first step I must determine the meaning and scope of the claims in dispute: a step "more commonly known as claim construction." Markman v. Westview Instruments, Inc., 52 F.3d 967, 976 (Fed.Cir. 1995). The second step requires me to compare the construed claims with the product or process accused of infringement. Id. The first step is a question of law, see id. at 979, while the second step is a question of fact, see North American Vaccine v. American Cyanamid Co., 7 F.3d 1571, 1574 (Fed.Cir.1993).

When construing a claim under the first step, I must consider the intrinsic evidence of record: the claim language, the specification and, if produced, the prosecution history. See Markman, 52 F.3d at 979. "The appropriate starting point, however, is always with the language of the asserted claim itself." Phonometrics, Inc. v. Northern Telecom, Inc., 133 F.3d 1459, 1464 (Fed.Cir.1998). This is so because "[t]he language of the claims ... defines the bounds of the patentee's exclusive rights." Wiener v. NEC Electronics, Inc., 102 F.3d 534, 539 (Fed.Cir.1996).

In construing the claim language at issue, I am guided by the principle that "claim language is interpreted to ascertain the meaning that a person of ordinary skill in the art would give to the claims in dispute." Schering Corp. v. Amgen, Inc., 18 F.Supp.2d 372, 380 (D.Del.1998) (citing Wiener, 102 F.3d at 539). Although words in a claim generally have their ordinary meaning, "a patentee may choose to be his own lexicographer and use terms in a manner other than their ordinary meaning, as long as the special definition of the term is clearly stated in the patent specification or file history." Vitronics Corp. v. Conceptronic, Inc., 90 F.3d 1576, 1582 (Fed.Cir. 1996). Even when a patentee does not give a word a special meaning, the specification still "acts as a dictionary when it expressly defines terms used in the claims or when it defines terms by implication." Id. As such, the specification is often "the single best guide to the meaning of a disputed term." Id.

If the intrinsic evidence does not resolve the ambiguities of disputed claim language, I may then consider extrinsic evidence, such as expert testimony regarding how those skilled in the art would interpret the disputed claim. See id. at 1583. While extrinsic evidence may be used "as an aid in arriving at the proper construction of the claim," it "may not be used to vary or contradict the otherwise unambiguous meaning of the claim." Desper Products, Inc. v. QSound Labs., Inc., 157 F.3d 1325, 1333 (Fed.Cir.1998). In most cases, intrinsic evidence will suffice to resolve ambiguity, and so, in those cases, consideration of the extrinsic evidence for construction purposes would be "improper." See Vitronics, 90 F.3d at 1583.

Based on the record before me, I am satisfied that I can "independently assess the claims, the specification, and if necessary the prosecution history, and relevant extrinsic evidence, and declare the meaning of the claims." Exxon Chemical Patents, Inc. v. Lubrizol Corp., 64 F.3d 1553, 1556 (Fed.Cir.1995). The claims I interpret are those ...