United States Federal Circuit

In this patent action concerning defendants' alleged infringement of the ‘767 patent (which involves the use of nucleotide probes to allow a scientist to detect, monitor, localize, or isolate nucleic acids when present in small quantities), a jury returned a verdict for plaintiffs, finding that defendants directly infringed all of the asserted claims, that defendants induced its customers to infringe all of the asserted claims, and that the claims at issue were not proven by clear and convincing evidence to lack enablement or written description. The district court denied defendants' post-trial motions and granted plaintiffs' motion for award of pre- and post-judgment interest, as modified. On appeal, defendants challenge the district court's claim construction, which construes the claims at issue to cover both direct and indirect detection of a signaling moiety. The district court's claim construction is reversed, the judgment of infringement is vacated, and the case is remanded, where the district court erred in construing the disputed claims of the ‘767 patent to cover both direct and indirect detection.

Appellate Information

• Decided 03/16/2015
• Published 03/16/2015

Judges

• Prost

Court

• United States Federal Circuit

Counsel