Opinion ID: 434780
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Loss Of Right To Jury Trial

Text: 62 Though it had opposed Perkin-Elmer's demand for a jury trial, Computervision argued it was deprived of a jury determination of the differences between the claimed inventions and the prior art and, based on that argument, moved for a new trial. 8 In reviewing a denial of a motion for new trial, the abuse of discretion standard applies. See e.g., Railroad Dynamics, Inc., supra, 727 F.2d at 1512, 220 USPQ at 937. No such abuse occurred here. 63 Computervision says this is the first case in which a jury verdict of noninfringement was reversed without consideration of a validity verdict, resulting in unfairness. Perkin-Elmer cites numerous non-jury cases in which a court of appeals has reversed a court finding of noninfringement and remanded for entry of judgment without reconsideration of validity. It is unnecessary, however, to decide such questions. There has been a judgment of validity and infringement and it is that judgment that has been appealed to this court. 64 The plight alleged by Computervision results from the procedural morass described above. Had judgment been initially entered on validity and infringement, the Ninth Circuit could have considered both issues, rendering this appeal unnecessary. Yet, Computervision did not object to the district court's action, but accepted its refusal to enter judgment on validity. 65 The district court's refusal to enter judgment on validity may have been ill advised; it cannot now serve as reversible error on this appeal. The thrust of Computervision's argument here is that the Ninth Circuit's interpretation of the claims necessarily differed from that of the jury. Hence, says Computervision, the jury never determined the differences between the prior art and the claims as interpreted by the Ninth Circuit. The argument depends critically on facts merely presumed and not established, i.e., that the Ninth Circuit interpreted the claims and that its interpretation differed from that reached by the jury in following the trial judge's unchallenged instructions. 66 The Ninth Circuit looked at the devices and concluded that the miniscule difference between the Micralign and CA-3000 printers was insufficient to constitute substantial evidence in support of the jury's non-infringement verdict. 680 F.2d at 671, 216 USPQ at 761-62. That conclusion did not necessarily depend on a claim interpretation different from that in accord with which the jury was instructed. It, as the language of the Ninth Circuit opinion makes plain, rested on a different assessment of the CA-3000 printer and its equivalency to the claimed inventions:Both rely on mirrors for their optics and employ one mirror placed behind another to reflect a circuit design onto a silicon wafer. A minor adjustment of the curvature and placement of one mirror does not place it beyond the reach of the patented procedure. Many variations are possible within the range of any patented procedure. Here, the degree of difference between the two systems created by the Cobilt's variation is minimal [CA-3000]. 67 Id. 68 Though the Ninth Circuit's opinion did not use the word equivalence, that court was presumably aware that the jury had been instructed on the doctrine and its opinion spoke the language of equivalency (functions in a strikingly similar way; the only difference; differences ... are miniscule; Otherwise ... identical; A minor adjustment ... not ... beyond the reach; variations ... within the range ). Assessing equivalency involves a determination of whether the claimed invention and alleged infringing device, which are different (there would otherwise be literal infringement), perform substantially the same function in substantially the same way to give the same or substantially the same result. See Graver Tank & Mfg. Co. v. Linde Air Prods. Co., 339 U.S. 605, 608, 70 S.Ct. 854, 856, 94 L.Ed. 1097 (1950). If equivalence appears, infringement will be found unless (1) arguments or amendments made by applicant during prosecution (prosecution history estoppel) estop the patentee from asserting a range of equivalence broad enough to encompass the accused product or process; or (2) the equivalent device is within the public domain, i.e., found in the prior art, Carmen Industries, Inc. v. Wahl, 724 F.2d 932, 942, 220 USPQ 481, 489 (Fed.Cir.1983); Thomas & Betts Corp. v. Litton Systems, Inc., 720 F.2d 1572, 1579-80, 220 USPQ 1, 6-7 (Fed.Cir.1983). Determining the existence of either condition (1) or condition (2) does not require reassessment of validity. See e.g., Carmen Industries, supra, 724 F.2d at 936 n. 2, 937 n. 5, 220 USPQ at 484 n. 2, 485 n. 5. Nor does determination of the existence of either condition necessitate a re-interpretation of the claims as written. Computervision's assumptions concerning a Ninth Circuit interpretation of the claims are unsupported in the record.