Wednesday, November 13, 2013

DSU Medical Corporation v. JMS Company, Ltd. case brief

DSU Medical Corporation v. JMS Company, Ltd. case brief summary
471 F.3d 1293 (2006)


CASE SYNOPSIS
Plaintiffs, a patentee and licensee, appealed a decision of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, which granted defendant manufacturer summary judgment of non-infringement on the patent claims concerning a combination of guard and needle assembly and on the open-shell configuration of the stand-alone claims and denied the post-trial motion of the patentee and licensee for a new trial.

CASE FACTS
The patented inventions guarded winged-needle sets to prevent needle-stick injuries. The distributor bought the manufacturer's needle guards and closed them before supplying consumers.

DISCUSSION

  • The court held that the trial court properly granted the manufacturer summary judgment of non-infringement after a verdict of infringement against the distributor, who sold the product in an infringing closed-shell configuration, because the product, in its open-shell configuration, was a stand-alone guard without a needle. 
  • The claims' language and context supported the construction of "slidably enclosing a sliding assembly" as requiring that the guard contain the needle at all times. 
  • The court held that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in denying a new trial on the contributory infringement under 35 U.S.C.S. § 271(c) of the manufacturer, which only contributed to placing the product into the closed-shell configuration in Malaysia, not the United States. 
  • The court held that the trial court properly excluded expert testimony on lost profit damages, which lacked sound economic grounding, and instructed the jury that the patentee had to prove an intent and action to induce infringement.

CONCLUSION
The court affirmed with each party to bear its own costs.

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