Court Opinion

ID: 9498785
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 17:27:56.045165+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:59:04.013020
License: Public Domain

MAYER, Circuit Judge,
eoncurring-in-part and dissenting-in-part.
I agree U.S. Patent No. 6,306,382 satisfies the written description requirement, Kao did not commit inequitable conduct, Unilever does not infringe, and the trial court’s decision not to award attorney fees was not an abuse of discretion. However, because Kao’s showing of unexpected results was insufficient as a matter of law to overcome the prima facie case of obviousness established by Unilever, I dissent from this court’s affirmance of nonobviousness.
Gangadharan, U.S. Patent No. 5,811,107, and Gueret, U.S. Patent No. 5,026,552, recite different inventions. Indeed, Ganga-dharan discloses the use of the copolymers poly(alkylvinyl ether/maleic acid) and poly(alkylvinyl ether/maleic anhydride) (collectively “PVM/MA”) to remove kero-totic plugs by a method different from Kao’s invention; and Gueret discloses Kao’s method, but not the use of PVM/MA. See Kao Corp. v. Unilever U.S., Inc., 334 *977F.Supp.2d 527, 533-35 & 553-55 (D.Del. 2004). Therefore, because Kao’s invention was prima facie obvious under either prior art reference in view of the other, see id. at 554 n. 18 (discussing the examiner’s rejection of Kao’s invention under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) in light of Gangadharan alone); see also id. at 557-58, Kao had the burden to demonstrate unexpected results over both references, see In re Johnson, 747 F.2d 1456 (Fed.Cir.1984). However, Kao introduced no evidence that its invention removed plugs unexpectedly better than Gangadharan. Even if sufficient to demonstrate unexpected results so as to overcome Gueret (a prior art reference without the PVM/MA limitation), the tests comparing Kao’s invention to Gueret provided no basis to overcome Gangadharan, which contains the PVM/MA limitation. See In re Baxter Travenol Labs., 952 F.2d 388, 392 (Fed.Cir.1991); Merck & Co., Inc. v. Biocraft Labs., Inc., 874 F.2d 804, 806-9 (Fed.Cir.1989); Johnson, 747 F.2d at 1459-61. Accordingly, there was no legally cognizable basis upon which to conclude that Kao’s invention performed unexpectedly better than Gangadharan, and Kao did not overcome the prima facie case of obviousness established by Gangadharan in view of Gueret.