Vanderlande Industries Nederland Bv v. I.T.C.
| Decision Date | 03 May 2004 |
| Docket Number | No. 03-1349.,03-1349. |
| Citation | 366 F.3d 1311 |
| Parties | VANDERLANDE INDUSTRIES NEDERLAND BV and Vanderlande Industries, Inc., Appellants, v. INTERNATIONAL TRADE COMMISSION, Appellee, and Siemens Dematic Corp. and Rapistan Systems Advertising Corp., Intervenors. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Federal Circuit |
John M. DiMatteo, Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP, of New York, NY, argued for appellants. With him on the brief were Art C. Cody and Mary M. Manning.
Michael K. Haldenstein, Attorney, Office of the General Counsel, United States International Trade Commission, of Washington, DC, argued for appellee. With him on the brief were Lyn M. Schlitt, General Counsel and James M. Lyons, Deputy General Counsel.
Terence J. Linn, Van Dyke, Gardner, Linn & Burkhart, L.L.P., of Grand Rapids, MI, argued for intervenors. With him on the brief was Daniel Van Dyke. Also on the brief were V. James Adduci II and Sarah E. Hamblin, Adduci Mastriani & Schaumberg, L.L.P., of Washington, DC. Of counsel were Jerry B. Blackstock and Leslie B. Zacks, Hunton & Williams LLP, of Atlanta, GA; W. Scott Creasman, Powell, Goldstein, Frazer & Murphy LLP, of Atlanta, GA; and Steven E. Adkins, Adduci, Mastriani & Schaumberg, L.L.P., of Washington, DC.
Before MICHEL, GAJARSA, and LINN, Circuit Judges.
Vanderlande Industries Nederland BV and Vanderlande Industries, Inc. appeal the decision of the United States International Trade Commission ("ITC") holding that the two companies violated section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930, 19 U.S.C. § 1337, by, inter alia, importing for sale in the United States sortation systems that fell within claims 1 and 4 of U.S. Patent No. 5,127,510 ("'510 patent"). In the Matter of Certain Sortation Sys., Parts Thereof, and Prods. Containing Same, USITC Investigation No. 337-TA-460 (Feb. 19, 2003) ("Comm'n Op."); (Oct. 22, 2002) ("ALJ Op."). Appellants challenge the TC's rulings on infringement (including claim construction) and on equitable estoppel. We affirm.
Appellant Vanderlande Industries Nederland BV is a Netherlands corporation with its principal place of business in the Netherlands. Vanderlande Industries Nederland BV designs and manufactures sortation systems (explained infra) and sortation-system components in the Netherlands, and exports these products to the United States or sells the products for export to the United States.
Appellant Vanderlande Industries, Inc. is a Delaware corporation with its principal place of business in Marietta, Georgia. Vanderlande Industries, Inc. imports, sells, and installs in the United States sortation systems and sortation-system components manufactured by Vanderlande Industries Nederland BV.
Intervenor Siemens Dematic Corp. is a New York corporation with its principal place of business in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Siemens manufactures and sells sortation systems in the United States. Siemens is the exclusive licensee of the '510 patent.
Intervenor Rapistan Systems Advertising Corp. is a Delaware corporation with its principal place of business in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Rapistan is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Siemens. Rapistan is the owner by assignment of the '510 patent.
On June 25, 2001, Siemens and Rapistan (together, "Siemens/Rapistan") filed a complaint with the ITC pursuant to section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930, 19 U.S.C. § 1337, asserting that Vanderlande Industries Nederland BV and Vanderlande Industries, Inc. (together, "Vanderlande") had engaged in unfair methods of competition and unfair acts in violation of the statute. In particular, Siemens/Rapistan alleged that "in connection with the importation, sale for importation, and sale within the United States after importation of certain sortation systems, parts thereof, and products containing same that are manufactured by Vanderlande," ALJ Op. at 2, Vanderlande had infringed twenty-seven claims of the '510 patent.
On July 19, 2001, the ITC issued a notice of investigation that was subsequently published in the Federal Register on July 25, 2001. 66 Fed.Reg. 38741 (July 25, 2001). On May 16, 2002, an ITC administrative law judge ("ALJ") issued an initial determination that terminated the investigation with respect to twelve of the asserted claims, leaving fifteen claims for adjudication. This initial determination subsequently became a final ITC determination. On June 4-17, 2002, the ALJ held an evidentiary hearing on the remaining issues in the investigation. On October 22, 2002, the ALJ issued an initial determination holding, inter alia, that: (1) Vanderlande had infringed claims 1 and 4 of the '510 patent, (2) Vanderlande had not infringed the remaining asserted claims of the '510 patent, and (3) Siemens/Rapistan was not equitably estopped from asserting the '510 patent against Vanderlande.
On December 11, 2002, the ITC issued a notice of its decision to review, at the commission level, the ALJ's rulings on two issues: (1) the construction of a term found in independent claim 30 and dependent claims 33 and 35, and (2) equitable estoppel. With the exception of these two issues, the ALJ's determinations were adopted by the commission and thus became final ITC determinations. On January 27, 2003, the ITC issued a notice of violation of section 337 and a limited exclusion order. The notice of violation indicated that the commission had decided to modify the ALJ's analyses of the two issues on review, but that the commission had reached the same ultimate conclusions on these issues, i.e., noninfringement and no equitable estoppel. The limited exclusion order applied to "[s]ortation systems, and shoes and slats thereof, covered by claims 1 or 4 of U.S. Patent No. 5,127,510 that are manufactured abroad and/or imported by or on behalf of Vanderlande" with the exception of "sortation system parts for use as spare parts at the [United Parcel Service] Hub 2000 facility in Louisville, Kentucky."1 On February 19, 2003, the ITC issued the commission's opinion, which provided a more detailed explanation of the January 27, 2003 notice of violation and limited exclusion order.
Vanderlande timely appealed to our court, which has jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1295(a)(6). We heard argument on March 5, 2004.
This case addresses "sortation systems," mechanical equipment used to sort items. The typical sortation system has a main conveyor belt and a number of spurs that branch off the main belt; the parties liken a conveyor belt and its spurs to a highway and its off-ramps. In "positive-sorter" systems, certain devices mechanically push items off the main conveyor belt onto the appropriate spur. At issue in this case are "shoe-type" positive sorters. In a shoe-sorter system, the main conveyor belt is made up of a series of "slats," and a "shoe" (or "diverter shoe") rides on top of each slat. The shoes mechanically push items across the slats and onto the appropriate spur.
One difficulty with shoe sorters is that when a shoe pushes an item along the slat, the item generates forces that react against the shoe. These reaction forces tend to flip the shoe over and to rotate the shoe sideways. The patent-in-suit, the '510 patent, discloses technology designed to minimize the effects of these reaction forces and promote ease of glide of shoes across slats.
The title of the '510 patent is "Modular Diverter Shoe and Slat Construction." The specification of the '510 patent states:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to a conveyor sortation system and in particular to a positive displacement sortation system in which diverting shoes travelling with the conveyor surface laterally diverts [sic] packages onto selected spur lines....
[In shoe-sorter systems,] [t]he diverting motion applies reaction forces to the shoes tending to rotate the shoes about their vertical axis as well as about the long axis of the slats. These forces, of course, increase with heavier packages and those having a high coefficient of friction with the slats. These difficulties are aggravated by a desire to provide ever-increasing line speeds, which require greater ease of gliding between the shoe and the slats. Efforts to provide structural support to resist the reactive forces tend to be at odds with ease of glide.
The present invention provides a sortation system which is capable of very high line speeds without excessive line noise by utilizing unique slats and diverter shoes, which are capable of rapid and smooth gliding along the slats while resisting reactionary forces....
The invention is embodied in a sortation system in which each of the slats is defined by a wall having a planar upper portion that defines the conveyor surface in combination with diverter shoes having a support portion including a substantially continuous glide surface that surrounds the slat and has substantially the same configuration as the outer surface of the slat. In a preferred embodiment, the slat has a parallelogram cross-section and bearing means are defined between at least one edge of each slat and an engaging portion of the glide surface of the diverter shoe. The bearing means is provided by an enlarged radius surface at the slat edge. Such bearing means are preferable [sic] provided at diagonally opposite slat edges in order to better resist reaction forces about the axis of the slat.
A lateral stabilizing means is additionally provided between each slat and an engaging portion of the glide surface of the corresponding diverter shoe in order to resist vertical axis reaction forces. The lateral stabilizing means is preferably a T-shaped outward extension of one portion of the slat engaging a mating portion of the shoe glide surface '510 patent, col. 1, ll. 9-13, 34-43, 46-50, 56-68, col. 2, ll. 1-9.
Figures 1-3 and 8-9 from the '510 patent are set out on the following pages. Figure 1...
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