Opinion ID: 1405856
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Motivation to Combine Prior Art References

Text: The district court found that one skilled in the art would have readily thought to combine the '382 patent and the '410 patent to create the membraneless sensor for whole blood of the '551 patent. Trial Opinion, 565 F.Supp.2d at 1123. While the '382 patent discloses a membraneless sensor, the '410 patent teaches the use of a disposable strip-type electrode cartridge that attaches to readout circuitry. Together, these disclose every element of the '551 patent's blood glucose test strip. Abbott argues that there was no motivation to combine these references because persons of skill in the art would not have combined a sensor that they did not believe would work in whole blood with the other components to produce a `seemingly inoperative' test strip for testing whole blood. Pls.-Appellants' Br. 37-38. Abbott's characterization of the '382 patent's disclosure of a membraneless sensor as seemingly inoperative simply repeats its arguments related to enablement and reasonable expectation of success. In light of our conclusions that the district court did not clearly err in finding that the '382 patent disclosed a membraneless sensor and that those with ordinary skill in the art would have expected such a membraneless sensor to work, we conclude that the district court did not clearly err in finding that those with ordinary skill would have been motivated to combine this sensor in a disposable form (the contribution of the '410 patent). Dr. Turner testified that the field of biosensors in the early 1980s was a sophisticated field. J.A. 2523. He also testified that at the time, persons with ordinary skill in the art recognized the advantages to the strip-type format for home testing, which would have motivated a person to put the membraneless sensor on a strip. Abbott failed to present any expert evidence to rebut that expert testimony. Therefore, the district court did not clearly err in finding that a motivation to combine existed.