United States Federal Circuit

In this patent infringement action, the judgment of the district court finding that defendants infringed certain asserted claims of the '218 patent, which discloses a method for obtaining stable acetaminophen formulations, and the '222 patent, which explains that in aqueous solutions, acetaminophen decomposes into potentially toxic products, is affirmed, where: 1) the plain and ordinary meaning of "buffering agent" is "an agent that helps the formulation resist change in pH," and because the district court's finding that sodium ascorbate present in the '222 patent as an antioxidant met this buffering agent limitation, as correctly construed, claim 1 of the '222 patent is infringed; 2) in claim 1 of the '218 patent, the vacuum stoppering step is optional and not mandatory, and thus there was infringement; and 3) defendants have not proven that the asserted claims of the '218 patent are obvious or that the '218 patent is invalid.

Appellate Information

• Decided 03/23/2015
• Published 03/23/2015

Judges

• Linn

Court

• United States Federal Circuit

Counsel