Opinion ID: 779249
Heading Depth: 6
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Material Change

Text: 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.