March 6, 2007 – LAWFUEL – Patent Law News – Chadbourne & Parke LLP won a decisive victory in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in a patent case representing Avent Ltd.
Avent, a subsidiary of Royal Philips Electronics, had been sued in the United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana, for infringement of two patents directed to non-spill drinking cups.
Chadbourne had been successful in getting the case dismissed based on summary judgment that one patent is not infringed and the other patent is invalid.
In an opinion issued February 23, 2007, the Federal Circuit affirmed in all respects.
In affirming the judgment of noninfringement, the Federal Circuit agreed with the District Court that the claim term “opening” had to be limited in accordance with the patentee’s prosecution arguments. Significantly, the Federal Circuit held that those patentability arguments, which were made in a parent application, constituted a disclaimer of claim scope in a continuation application where the patentee had failed to rescind his earlier patentability arguments.
Working for Chadbourne on the case were New York office intellectual property partner Joseph A. Calvaruso and associate Richard Martinelli.
