York Products, Inc. v. Central Tractor Farm & Family Center, 96-1002

• Decision Date: 01 November 1996
• Docket Number: No. 96-1002,96-1002
• Citation: 99 F.3d 1568,40 USPQ2d 1619
• Parties: YORK PRODUCTS, INC., Plaintiff-Appellant, v. CENTRAL TRACTOR FARM & FAMILY CENTER and Custom Form Manufacturing, Inc., Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Federal Circuit

Page 1568

99 F.3d 1568

40 U.S.P.Q.2d 1619

YORK PRODUCTS, INC., Plaintiff-Appellant, v. CENTRAL TRACTOR FARM & FAMILY CENTER and Custom Form

Manufacturing, Inc., Defendants-Appellees.

No. 96-1002.

United States Court of Appeals, Federal Circuit.

Nov. 1, 1996.

Raymond G. Hasley, Rose, Schmidt, Hasley & DiSalle, P.C., Pittsburgh, PA, argued, for plaintiff-appellant. With him on the brief was Brian W. Ashbaugh.

David R. Melton, Barnes & Thornburg, South Bend, IN, argued, for defendants-appellees. With him on the brief was Paul B. Hunt.

Before RADER, Circuit Judge, SKELTON, Senior Circuit Judge, and BRYSON, Circuit Judge.

RADER, Circuit Judge.

The United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania granted a motion for judgment as a matter of law (JMOL) in favor of Central Tractor Farm & Family Center (Central Tractor) and Custom Form Manufacturing, Inc. (Custom Form). York Products, Inc. (York) appeals. Because the claim language dictates the trial court's interpretation, this court affirms its interpretation of claim 1. Because claim 32 differs from claim 1, however, this court reverses the trial court's interpretation of claim 32 and the term "plurality." Accordingly, this result requires a remand for findings on infringement.

I.

York owns U.S. Patent No. 4,958,876 (the '876 patent) entitled "Vehicle Cargo Bed Liner." The patent claims a protective liner for a vehicle cargo body, such as the bed of a pickup truck. This liner fits inside the cargo bed of a vehicle and prevents damage from a shifting load. The sidewalls of the claimed liner include protective ridges. These ridges align on opposite sides of the liner to create slots into which a user may insert a wooden board to lock a load into place. As disclosed in the patent, this load lock feature prevents cargo from shifting during transit. Figures 2 and 7 from the '876 patent illustrate this load lock feature:

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

Central Tractor allegedly infringed the '876 patent by selling bed liner products. Custom Form manufactured the accused products. In the litigation, Custom Form defended Central Tractor.

York alleges that Custom Form infringed claims 1-8, 15, 16, 19-25, 30-33, 35, and 36 of the '876 patent. Custom Form manufactures two models of bed liners for use in the cargo body of pickup trucks: an under-the-rail type and an over-the-rail type. The rail is a structure at the top of the wall of a pickup truck cargo bed. The upper edge of the liner sidewalls either fits under the rail or extend over the top of the rail. Custom Form's under-the-rail model has two distinct means to separate and restrain cargo; its over-the-rail model has only one. York alleges each type of bed liner infringes claims of the '876 patent.

Before trial, the parties requested that the trial court issue jury instructions on claim interpretation. Both parties submitted proposed interpretations. The trial court denied this request. Instead, the trial court elected to select a jury and proceed with the trial. When York had closed its case for infringement, Custom Form moved for JMOL under Fed.R.Civ.P. 50(a). The trial court denied the motion. Custom Form thus began its case-in-chief.

After the trial had been underway about a week, the trial court distributed draft jury instructions which interpreted the claims. These draft instructions adopted many of the proposed interpretations Custom Form had submitted before trial. York moved to present oral argument on those instructions. The trial court granted the motion and sequestered the jury. After oral argument, the trial court declined to modify its draft instructions. York entered a formal objection to the proposed form of the jury instructions. Based on its perception that the court's proposed jury instructions precluded a finding of infringement, York also requested that the trial court reconsider and grant Custom Form's earlier JMOL motion. The district court accordingly granted Custom Form's renewed motion for JMOL. York appeals.

II.

This court gives a grant of JMOL under Rule 50(a) plenary review on appeal. Allied Colloids, Inc. v. American Cyanamid Co., 64 F.3d 1570, 1573 (Fed.Cir.1995). As an initial matter, this case asks whether York, because it requested Custom Form to renew its JMOL motion, waived its opportunity to challenge the JMOL on appeal. A party that does not timely object to errors or does not raise issues at trial risks waiver of appeal rights. See Charles Alan Wright & Arthur R. Miller, 9A Federal Practice & Procedure §§ 2472 & 2533 n. 16 (2d ed. 1995) (failure to object to the lack of grounds in the trial court may prohibit raising point in the appellate court). York, however, does not fit this profile. York explicitly objected to the trial court's claim interpretation on numerous grounds. Instead, after reserving its objections and clearly presenting the issues to the trial court, York consented to entry of JMOL to expedite its appeal and to conserve both its client's and the court's resources. Because it expressly raised and reserved objections on the claim interpretation issues on appeal, York has not waived its rights. To the contrary, York has proceeded responsibly to avoid needless expenditure of the resources of the parties and the court.

This court's sister circuit undertook a similar action in Deas v. PACCAR, Inc., 775 F.2d 1498 (11th Cir.1985). In that case, after a full trial, the jury found for Deas. In response, Paccar moved for judgment notwithstanding the verdict (JNOV) or, in the alternative, a new trial. The trial court denied Paccar's motion for JNOV but granted the motion for a new trial. Because the grant of a new trial is an interlocutory order, Deas then requested that Paccar's JNOV motion be granted in order to allow an immediate appeal. The Eleventh Circuit found support for reviewing the motion, even though Deas had consented to the court's order. " 'The plaintiffs did not consent to a judgment against them, but only that, if there was to be such a judgment, it should be final in form instead of interlocutory, so that they might come to this court without further delay.' " Id. at 1503 (quoting Thomsen v. Cayser, 243 U.S. 66, 83, 37 S.Ct. 353, 358, 61 L.Ed. 597 (1917)); see also National Polymer Products, Inc. v. Borg-Warner Corp., 660 F.2d 171, 177 (6th Cir.1981) (allowing parties to consent to JNOV in order to obtain immediate review). In Deas, however, the court noted that while an appellant may "consent to the grant of JNOV as a vehicle" to reach appeal, the court would only review the trial court's ruling initially adverse to Deas, i.e., the grant of Paccar's motion for a new trial. 775 F.2d at 1503. The court proceeded to review for clear error the trial court's granting of the motion for a new trial. Id. This review stands in contrast to the de novo review to which a motion for JNOV is normally subjected. In this case, we review the district court's action under the standard of review dictated by the Supreme Court in Markman. Markman v. Westview Instruments, Inc., --- U.S. ----, 116 S.Ct. 1384, 134 L.Ed.2d 577 (1996).

III.

Because the parties dispute the meaning of terms in the claims of the patent, this court reviews the district court's order under the requirements of Markman. Id. The claim language, of course, defines the bounds of claim scope. Bell Communications Research, Inc. v. Vitalink Communications Corp., 55 F.3d 615, 619-20, 34 USPQ2d 1816, 1819 (Fed.Cir.1995) ("First, and most importantly, the language of the claim defines the scope of the protected invention."). To determine the meaning of disputed claim terms, however, a construing court may consider other sources, including the patent specification and the administrative record leading to patent issuance. Whittaker Corp. v. UNR Indus., Inc., 911 F.2d 709, 711, 15 USPQ2d 1742, 1744 (Fed.Cir.1990). These additional sources may provide context and clarification about the meaning of claim terms.

Claim 1 states as follows:

A protective liner for a vehicle cargo bed, said protective liner permitting structure positioned in the vehicle cargo bed to be supported and affixed in position in the cargo bed, said liner comprising:

a liner floor portion positionable upon the floor of the vehicle cargo bed, said liner floor portion having elevated portions formed thereupon to conform to wheel wells protruding from the vehicle cargo bed floor;

liner sidewall portions extending upwardly from opposite sides of the liner floor portion, one of each of said liner sidewall portions being positionable against one of a pair of opposite sidewalls of the vehicle cargo bed;

a liner frontwall portion extending upwardly from a front end of the liner floor portion, said liner frontwall portion being positionable against a frontwall of the vehicle cargo bed; and

a plurality of spaced apart, vertically extend[ing] ridge members protruding in a common plan[e] from the liner sidewall portions for at least a substantial[ ] part of the entire height thereof whereby gaps separating adjacent ones of the ridge members of each liner sidewall portion form cooperative opposed load locks of a depth sufficient to receive opposite ends of the structure positioned in the vehicle cargo bed in order to affix the structure against movement in a direction parallel to said liner sidewall portion in the vehicle cargo bed.

(Emphasis added.)

In its claim interpretation, the district court defined the limitation "at least a substantial part of the entire height thereof" to mean "the ridge member must protrude from each of the sidewalls of the bed liner and must extend from near the bottom to near the top of the liner sidewall." In addition, the district court stated:

"Substantially the entire height thereof" simply means that the ridges must cover nearly the entire length of the sidewall. This limitation in the Claim was added by the patent applicant during prosecution of the...