Panel: Judges Lourie, Dyk, and Moore, with Judge Moore writing the opinion
You should read this case if: you have a claim term with functional language that may be subject to means-plus-function interpretation
Everyone knows patents must end with claims that “particularly point out and distinctly” identify the invention. 35 U.S.C. § 112(a). But some inventions don’t lend themselves to succinct delineation in the claims. So Congress provided an alternative rather than identify in the claims an exact structure or step that is an element of the invention, patentees can express the element as “a means or step for performing a specified function.” 35 U.S.C. § 112(f). When they do, the claim will be “construed to cover the corresponding structure, material, or acts described in the specification and equivalents thereof.”
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On January 28, 2021, the Federal Circuit affirmed the general principle that the mere fact of copying by an accused infringer is insufficient to rebut a charge of obviousness (
The appeal related to a post-grant review (PGR) challenge brought by L’Oreal against U.S. Patent No. 9,668,954, relating to methods for bleaching hair using maleic acid. We previously reported the Federal Circuit’s decision on appeal of the PGR of a parent patent (
Liqwd, Inc., v. L’Oreal USA, Inc., appeal from PGR2017-00012) here. In
Liqwd, the Federal Circuit concluded that L’Oreal, the accused infringer, would not have developed products using maleic acid without having had access to the confidential information of Liqwd, Inc., the patent owner. Because the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) in
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