Court Opinion

ID: 9493669
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 15:14:50.005545+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:55:57.677398
License: Public Domain

MAYER, Chief Judge,
dissenting.
I would reverse. The district court relied on the plain meaning of the term “integral therewith” and properly refused to read the limitations of the preferred embodiment, i.e., co-extruded inner and outer layers, into the claims. However, “[t]he prosecution history limits the interpretation of claim terms so as to exclude any interpretation that was disclaimed during prosecution.” Southwall Techs. v. Cardinal IG Co., 54 F.3d 1570, 1576, 34 USPQ2d 1673, 1676 (Fed.Cir.1995) (citations omitted). Vanguard submitted its supplemental amendment before the notice of allowance issued, and argued that the amended claims were patentable over Zu-lauf because, inter alia, “[t]he Zulauf system is at least a two-step manufacturing process.... Our system requires only a one-step process as a result of the co and tri-extrusion process, and will therefore be more cost effective with regard to labor input.” Through this response, Vanguard effectively disclaimed all but one-step processes, thereby precluding a claim construction of “integral therewith” that embraces any configuration which is “formed as a unit.” Vanguard argues that the amendment was not required to secure allowance of the original claims because the notice of allowance did not refer to the supplemental amendment. This is irrelevant because Vanguard chose to amend its claims rather than wait for a response to its request for reconsideration, and the amendment was filed prior to the issuance of the notice of allowance. The arguments distinguishing the amended claims over the prior art are part of the prosecution history that the public has a right to rely on in determining the scope of the claims. See Ekchian v. Home Depot, Inc., 104 F.3d 1299, 1303, 41 USPQ2d 1364, 1368 (Fed.Cir.1997).
When the term “integral therewith” is properly construed to mean an inner and outer layer “formed as a unit through a single step process,” the CHO-SEAL 3000 gaskets, which were produced by a multi-step dipping process to add the outer layer to the premade silicone core, lack the “integral therewith” limitation and thus do not literally infringe Claims 1, 3-6, and 9 of the '854 patent. We have held that “by *1374distinguishing the claimed invention over the prior art, an applicant is indicating what the claims do not cover, he is by implication surrendering such protection.” Ekchian, 104 F.3d at 1304, 41 USPQ2d at 1368 (citations omitted). The same statements in the supplemental amendment that limited the claim construction of “integral therewith” to mean “formed as a unit through a single step process” act as an estoppel barring the application of the doctrine of equivalents to the material that was surrendered during prosecution, namely inner and outer layers of gaskets formed as a unit through a multi-step process. Infringement by the doctrine of equivalents should not have been submitted to the jury because prosecution history estoppel bars expanding the claims to include the gaskets with an outer layer formed by dipping as in the CHO-SEAL 3000.