Opinion ID: 208066
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Element (a) of Claim 1

Text: Element (a) of claim 1 requires: a dialysate-delivery system for supplying dialysate to a hemodialyzer, the dialysate-delivery system comprising at least one unit selected from the group consisting of (i) a dialysate-preparation unit, (ii) a dialysate-circulation unit, (iii) an ultrafiltrate-removal unit, and (iv) a dialysate-monitoring unit. ’131 Patent col.36 ll.1–8. The district court concluded that substantial evidence does not support the jury’s verdict because Mr. Causey, Fresenius’s expert who testified that claim 1 is obvious, did not specifically analyze element (a). Because Mr. Causey’s “testimony did not analyze and explain the claim language and which components of the prior art embodied each element of the asserted claim,” the district court determined that Fresenius had not met its burden of proving that claim 1 is invalid. JMOL Opinion, slip op. at 13. Because all the asserted claims of the ’131 patent contain the element 2008-1306, -1331 13 (a) limitation, the district court granted JMOL for all of the asserted claims. We disagree with the district court. Element (a) is written in Markush form, such that the entire element is disclosed by the prior art if one alternative in the Markush group is in the prior art. See Schering Corp. v. Geneva Pharms., Inc., 339 F.3d 1373, 1380 (Fed. Cir. 2003) (holding a claim invalid as anticipated when it claimed compounds in Markush form and a prior art reference disclosed one of the claimed compounds); In re Skoll, 523 F.2d 1392, 1397 (CCPA 1975); see also Titanium Metals Corp. v. Banner, 778 F.2d 775, 782 (Fed. Cir. 1985) (“It is also an elementary principle of patent law that when, as by a recitation of ranges or otherwise, a claim covers several compositions, the claim is ‘anticipated’ if one of them is in the prior art.”). Thus, a prior art device discloses element (a) if it contains a dialysate-delivery system for supplying dialysate to a hemodialyzer comprising only a dialysate-circulation unit (or any one of the other three listed alternatives). It is clear that the prior art disclosed a hemodialysis machine containing a dialysate-circulation unit. Mr. Kelly, Baxter’s witness, admitted and agreed that all hemodialysis machines—which the jury could reasonably presume would include those in the prior art—must have “some way of circulating the dialysate through a dialysate circuit.” J.A. at 14399. In addition, Mr. Ragsdale testified that in his opinion, “the Seratron system includes a dialysate pump for circulating dialysate . . . through a circuit including a dialysate compartment for a dialyzer.” J.A. at 14342. Finally, Mr. Causey testified that the limitations of element (a) of the ’131 patent are present in the CMS 08 prior art hemodialysis machine. 2008-1306, -1331 14 Based on the totality of the testimony presented by Messrs. Kelly, Ragsdale, and Causey, the jury could reasonably conclude that the limitations of element (a) were known in the prior art. Specifically, the jury could conclude that the prior art contained a hemodialysis machine with a dialysate-delivery system that supplies dialysate to a hemodialyzer and comprises a dialysate-circulation unit. Because substantial evidence supports the jury’s finding, JMOL was inappropriate.