Rexnord Corp v. Laitram Corp
| Decision Date | 15 November 2001 |
| Docket Number | No. 00-1395,00-1395 |
| Citation | 274 F.3d 1336,2001 WL 1456191 |
| Parties | (Fed. Cir. 2001) REXNORD CORPORATION, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. THE LAITRAM CORPORATION and INTRALOX, INC., Defendants-Appellees |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Federal Circuit |
Appealed from: United States District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin, Judge Barbara B. Crabb
[Copyrighted Material Omitted] Philip C. Swain, Foley, Hoag & Eliot LLP, of Boston, Massachusetts, argued for plaintiff-appellant. With him on the brief were Steven W. Phillips and Katherine M. Hamill. Of counsel on the brief was Jules Jay Morris, Invensys PLC, of Foxboro, Massachusetts.
Gregory J. Vogler, McAndrews, Held & Malloy, Ltd., of Chicago, Illinois, argued for defendants-appellees. With him on the brief were Timothy J. Malloy, Scott P. McBride, and Ronald H. Spuhler. Of counsel on the brief was Barry L. LaCour, The Laitram Corporation, of Harahan, Louisiana.
Before NEWMAN, CLEVENGER and DYK, Circuit Judges.
Rexnord Corporation appeals a summary judgment of noninfringement granted in favor of The Laitram Corporation and Intralox, Inc., by the United States District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin. See Rexnord Corp. v. The Laitram Corp., No. 99-C-0245-C (W.D. Wis. April 12, 2000). Because the district court construed the claims so as to improperly read a limitation from the written description into the claims, we reverse and remand.
Rexnord Corporation ("Rexnord") is the holder of U.S. Patent No. 5,634,550 ("the '550 patent"), entitled "Direction Changing Mechanism For Transferring Articles Between Transverse Conveyors," which issued on June 3, 1997. The '550 patent is generally directed to a device used in the bottling and packaging processes of the beverage industry to transfer articles between an upstream conveyor and a downstream conveyor oriented at ninety-degree angles with respect to each other. The basic mechanics of the underlying conveyor system are fairly straightforward: as articles (e.g., cans or bottles) move upstream on the surface of the first conveyor, they come into contact with a guide rail, which in turn directs the articles over to the second (or downstream) conveyor.
Historically, one problem with transferring articles from the upstream conveyor directly to the downstream conveyor was that articles would fall through the gap between the two conveyors. One solution was to place a transfer plate (e.g., a sheet of metal) over the gap between the conveyors. By this simple remedy, articles moving upstream would be pushed on to the transfer plate, where they would remain until subsequent articles came along and pushed them on to the downstream conveyor, thus completing a ninety-degree corner turn. The shortcoming to this approach was that the last row of cans or bottles on the upstream conveyor would get hung up on the transfer plate because there were no subsequent cans or bottles to push them on to the downstream conveyor. Hence, when using a transfer plate, the last row of cans or bottles had to be pushed manually onto the downstream conveyor.
The '550 patent is directed at an invention that employs conveyors possessing "self-clearing capability" (i.e., the last row of cans or bottles does not need subsequent cans or bottles to complete the transfer to the downstream conveyor). The way the '550 invention achieves its self-clearing capabilities is by using a specially-shaped "transfer conveyor" placed in the gap between the two conventional conveyors, and oriented alongside the upstream conveyor. The transfer conveyor has a "portion" that projects, or cantilevers, out from one side of the transfer conveyor to extend over the gap and the "transition section" of the downstream conveyor (i.e., the end portion of the downstream conveyor that curves downward around the sprocket):
[Tabular or Graphical Material Omitted]
By using a transfer conveyor instead of a static transfer plate, the last row of cans or bottles can be transferred from the upstream conveyor to the downstream conveyor without manual intervention.
According to the '550 patent, the flat, article-carrying surface of the transfer conveyor can be created by interlinking many individual pieces, called "chain links," together with "chain pins." The "chain links" have two portions: (1) a "link module portion" and (2) a "cantilevered portion." Below is an illustration of a "chain link" as disclosed in the '550 patent:
[Tabular or Graphical Material Omitted]
The asserted claims in the '550 patent are claims 5 and 12-19, of which claims 5, 12, and 16 are independent claims. Listed below are claims 5, 12, and 16 in relevant part:
5. A conveyor apparatus comprising . . . a first conveyor . . . including . . . a transition section . . . and a second conveyor . . . including a plurality of elongated chain pins, and a plurality of chain links . . . including a link module portion . . . and a cantilevered portion extending laterally from said link module portion and away from from [sic] said chain pins and into overhanging relation to said transition section of the first conveyor to provide an extension of said second conveyor article supporting surface, and including a lower edge portion contoured to follow the arcuate path of said transition section.
12. A conveyor chain comprising a plurality of chain links each including a link module portion . . . and a second portion extending . . . in cantilevered relation from only one of said sides of said link module portion. . . .
16. A conveyor chain adapted for use with a transversely oriented conveyor . . . comprising a plurality of chain link modules extending transversely with respect to the direction of movement of the conveyor chain and each . . . having . . . a second side edge . . . arranged to extend in cantilevered relation over a portion of the transversely oriented conveyor to facilitate direct transfer of articles there between. . . .
'550 patent, col. 11, line 12 - col. 14, line 5 (emphases added).
The Laitram Corporation and Intralox, Inc. (collectively, "Laitram") manufacture and sell conveyor systems under the name "Live Transfer Belt" or "ONE PIECE Live Transfer Belt." Rexnord Corp., slip op. at 15. There is no dispute that each of Laitram's accused conveyor belts contains chain links having a one-piece construction, that is, the link module portion and the cantilevered portion are of one piece.
Rexnord filed suit against Laitram, alleging, inter alia, that Laitram's "Live Transfer Belt" and "ONE PIECE Live Transfer Belt" products infringed claims 5 and 12-19 of the '550 patent. Both parties subsequently filed cross-motions for summary judgment on the issue of infringement. In addition, Laitram filed a motion for summary judgment of patent invalidity and trade secret misappropriation. On April 12, 2000, the district court awarded summary judgment of noninfringement both literally and under the doctrine of equivalents, in favor of Laitram. It then declared the invalidity issue moot and denied Laitram's trade secret misappropriation summary judgment motion. Rexnord now appeals the district court's summary judgment of noninfringement.
We review the grant of summary judgment de novo. Conroy v. Reebok Int'l, Ltd., 14 F.3d 1570, 1575, 29 USPQ2d 1373, 1377 (Fed. Cir. 1994). In doing so, we must keep in mind that summary judgment is appropriate only if there is no genuine issue of material fact. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(c). To this end, the court must draw all reasonable factual inferences in favor of the nonmoving party. See Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 255 (1986).
An infringement analysis is a two-step process in which the court first determines, as a matter of law, the correct claim scope, and then the fact-finder compares the properly construed claim to the accused device to determine, as a matter of fact, whether all of the claim limitations are present, either literally or by a substantial equivalent, in the accused device. Johnson Worldwide Assocs., Inc. v. Zebco Corp., 175 F.3d 985, 988, 50 USPQ2d 1607, 1609 (Fed. Cir. 1999); Renishaw PLC v. Marposs Societa' per Azioni, 158 F.3d 1243, 1247-48, 48 USPQ2d 1117, 1120 (Fed. Cir. 1998); General Mills, Inc. v. Hunt-Wesson, Inc., 103 F.3d 978, 981, 41 USPQ2d 1440, 1442 (Fed. Cir. 1997). Because questions regarding the construction of the claims are issues of law, we review them without deference to the district court. Cybor Corp. v. FAS Techs., Inc., 138 F.3d 1448, 1456, 46 USPQ2d 1169, 1174 (Fed. Cir. 1998) (en banc).
The dispositive question in this case is whether the word "portion" as used in the claims of the '550 patent should be limited to parts of an object that are "separate," as opposed to parts that can be either "separate" or "integral." Since each of Laitram's accused conveyor belts contains chain links having an integral, or one-piece construction, Rexnord contends that the broader interpretation should be adopted. Not surprisingly, Laitram argues that the narrower interpretation requiring separate parts should prevail.
Cases presenting issues of claim interpretation are often close. When words used in claims have more than one possible meaning, our canons of claim interpretation are the tools that permit resolution of disputes as to the correct meaning of claim language. In this case, the district court recognized that the word "portion" could be defined, from the perspective of dictionary sources, as both Rexnord and Laitram contend. The district court correctly understood the need to examine the intrinsic record of the patent, its specification and its file history, to determine which meaning of the term must govern. Examination of a specification or of a file history entails close scrutiny. For the reasons set forth below, we conclude that the district court's analysis of the specification and the file history led it to the wrong legal conclusion.
We begin our claim construction anal...
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