Opinion ID: 779249
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The First Prototype

Text: 42 Slip Track contends that there was sufficient evidence of reduction to practice of the First Prototype to withstand summary judgment. Slip Track's expert, Mr. Harris, testified that the First Prototype was a reduction to practice and that it would work if made out of steel and wallboard. He indicated that he could use the model to construct the invention and use it in a building. Another Slip Track witness with six years of wall building experience, Mr. Kim, said that when he saw the First Prototype he knew that the invention would work for its intended purpose and that it did not matter that it was made of cardboard. Slip Track argues that because reduction to practice is a question of law with factual underpinnings based on what one of ordinary skill in the art would think, the district court should not have rejected the uncontroverted expert testimony and replaced it with its own view. 43 Metal-Lite argues that Slip Track did not make a prima facie showing that the First Prototype was a reduction to practice. Metal-Lite claims that neither prong of the reduction to practice test was met, asserting both that the First Prototype did not include all of the limitations of the claimed invention, and that there was insufficient evidence in the record that the invention would work for its intended purpose because the First Prototype was not made of the right materials and it was never tested to see if it would work. In addition, Metal-Lite claims that the expert testimony was not from one of skill in the art. Metal-Lite's argument that the First Prototype did not include all of the limitations of the claimed invention rests on its assertion that the wallboard is a limitation in the interfering subject matter. Having already decided that the wallboard is not a limitation of the interfering subject matter, we need not further address this argument. 44 As to the question of Slip Track's experts, Metal-Lite argues that the evidence that Slip Track did put in the record regarding the intended purpose is not relevant because Mr. Harris and Mr. Kim, who testified on behalf of Slip Track, are not experts in the field. Metal-Lite argues that while they are experts in installing drywall, they need to be engineers in order to be skilled in the art of withstanding seismic forces. We do not agree that their testimony is not probative to this issue. As Slip Track explains, Mr. Harris has 40 years of experience in the construction industry and has taught about wall construction and Mr. Kim had six years of wall building experience when he saw the First Prototype. With such experience in constructing walls, the testimony of Mr. Harris and Mr. Kim as to the stability of particular wall constructions is probative on summary judgment, particularly in light of the fact that Metal-Lite has presented no evidence that a formal engineering degree is required to be one of ordinary skill in this art. 45
46 Metal-Lite asserts that the First Prototype could not have been a reduction to practice because first, there was not sufficient evidence that it would work for its intended purpose, second, the prototype was not made of the correct materials, and third, it was never tested. These latter two challenges, with respect to the materials and the testing, are both subsumed in the first challenge, the question of whether the prototype demonstrated that the invention would work for its intended purpose. Testing is required to demonstrate reduction to practice in some instances because without such testing there cannot be sufficient certainty that the invention will work for its intended purpose. See Scott v. Finney, 34 F.3d 1058, 1062-63, 32 USPQ2d 1115, 1119 (Fed.Cir.1994). Differences in materials are relevant for the same reasons: they diminish the inventor's ability to recognize whether the invention will work for its intended purpose. For the reasons we describe below, we remand these issues to the district court for consideration under the correct burden of proof and in light of this opinion.
47 Metal-Lite argues that testing under actual working conditions was necessary to show reduction to practice of a wall assembly invention intended to withstand earthquakes. Slip Track argues that Metal-Lite presented no testimony that the invention would need to be tested for one skilled in the art to know that it would work for its intended purpose. Since there is no evidence refuting Slip Track's experts, Slip Track argues that this court cannot affirm the trial court's judgment and should even reverse and hold in favor of Slip Track. 48 We reiterate that testing is relevant in that it is evidence of whether the inventor would have known that an invention is suitable for its intended purpose. As one of this court's predecessors, the Court of Claims, explained, the inquiry is not what kind of test was conducted, but whether the test conducted showed that the invention would work as intended in its contemplated use. Eastern Rotorcraft, 384 F.2d at 431, 155 USPQ at 730. In Scott v. Finney, this court explained that the testing should demonstrate ` the soundness of the principles of operation of the invention.' The inventor need show only that the invention is `suitable' for its intended use. 34 F.3d at 1062-63, 32 USPQ2d at 1119 (citation omitted) (quoting Wolter v. Belicka, 56 C.C.P.A. 1399, 409 F.2d 255, 263, 161 USPQ 335, 341 (CCPA 1969) (Rich, J., dissenting), and Steinberg v. Seitz, 517 F.2d 1359, 1363, 186 USPQ 209, 212 (CCPA 1975) (quoting In re Dardick, 496 F.2d 1234, 1238, 181 USPQ 834, 837 (CCPA 1974))). In some cases, where the invention is particularly complicated, the absence of testing may be sufficient in and of itself to justify a grant of summary judgment denying priority for lack of reduction to practice. However, in a case where the necessity of such testing is more uncertain, as in this case, and where there is other uncontroverted evidence that the inventor would have known that the invention would work for its intended purpose, it is inappropriate to grant summary judgment on the basis of lack of testing alone, given the preponderance of the evidence standard. Testing is not itself a requisite for reduction to practice, although it may be a requisite for showing that a prototype demonstrates that an invention is suitable for its intended purpose. 49 In this case, the goal of the invention was to enhance the ability of walls to withstand environmental forces. The evidence in the record is ambiguous as to what one of ordinary skill in the art would have known about how walls can be improved to withstand such forces. Therefore, we leave to the fact finder the determination of whether testing was necessary to determine that giving the wallboard flexibility to move up and down would improve the stability of the wall, or whether the mere construction of the First Prototype, in and of itself, was enough to demonstrate to one of skill in the art that the invention would work for its intended purpose without any testing. See King Instrument, 767 F.2d at 861, 226 USPQ at 407 (Some devices are so simple and their purpose and efficacy so obvious that their complete construction is sufficient to demonstrate workability.); Gordon v. Hubbard, 52 C.C.P.A. 1598, 347 F.2d 1001, 1006, 146 USPQ 303, 307 (CCPA 1965) (In instances where the invention is sufficiently simple, mere construction or synthesis of the subject matter may be sufficient to show that it will operate satisfactorily.); In re Asahi/America, Inc., 68 F.3d 442, 446, 37 USPQ2d 1204, 1207 (Fed.Cir.1995) ([M]ere construction of the restraint coupling is all that is necessary to constitute reduction to practice.). Therefore, in determining whether the inventor at the time the prototype was made would have known that the invention was suitable for its intended purpose, the finder of fact should consider the absence of testing and whether such testing was needed for such a determination.
50 Metal-Lite argues that the First Prototype could not have been a reduction to practice because the materials were very different and therefore the invention could not have been shown to work for its intended purpose. While the materials used in the First Prototype may have been fairly different from those used in the actual invention, it is necessary to repeat that such a deviation is relevant only to the extent that it indicates that the inventor could not, from the purported reduction to practice, have determined that the invention would work for its intended purpose. In Mahurkar v. C.R. Bard, Inc., 79 F.3d 1572, 38 USPQ2d 1288 (Fed.Cir.1996), the inventor of catheters created prototypes of a different material in order to test his invention. Id. at 1578, 38 USPQ2d at 1291-92. This court found that there had been a reduction to practice: 51 [H]e also tested polyethylene prototypes and used them in flow and pressure drop tests in his kitchen. These tests used glycerine to simulate blood. These tests showed, to the limit of their design, the utility of his claimed invention. Dr. Mahurkar designed these tests to show the efficiency of his structure knowing that polyethylene catheters were too brittle for actual use with humans. But, he also knew that his invention would become suitable for its intended purpose by simple substitution of a soft, biocompatible material. Dr. Mahurkar adequately showed reduction to practice of his less complicated invention with tests which [did] not duplicate all of the conditions of actual use. 52 Id. (quoting Gordon v. Hubbard, 52 C.C.P.A. 1598, 347 F.2d 1001, 1006, 146 USPQ 303, 307 (CCPA 1965)). Thus, the court concluded that the substitution of materials did not prevent the inventor from knowing that the invention would be suitable for its intended purpose. The precise question is whether or not the embodiment made of different materials demonstrates that the invention would work for its intended purpose. In this case, there is sufficient evidence in favor of Slip Track on the issue of intended purpose to support a remand of this question, in order for the district court to apply the correct burden of proof. In making this assessment on remand, the finder of fact should consider the impact of the deviations in materials. In addition, while we have held that the wallboard was not an element necessary to meet the first requirement for reduction to practice, the finder of fact may still consider the existence and material of the wallboard in determining whether one of skill in the art would have determined that the invention would work for its intended purpose upon a simple inspection of the prototype: in this case, to enable the wallboard to withstand environmental forces when placed in the header.