Arlington Industries, Inc. v. Bridgeport Fittings, Inc.

345 F.3d 1318, 68 U.S.P.Q. 2d (BNA) 1439, 2003 U.S. App. LEXIS 19719, 2003 WL 22208342
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
DecidedSeptember 25, 2003
Docket02-1517, 02-1518
StatusPublished
Cited by23 cases

This text of 345 F.3d 1318 (Arlington Industries, Inc. v. Bridgeport Fittings, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Arlington Industries, Inc. v. Bridgeport Fittings, Inc., 345 F.3d 1318, 68 U.S.P.Q. 2d (BNA) 1439, 2003 U.S. App. LEXIS 19719, 2003 WL 22208342 (Fed. Cir. 2003).

Opinions

Opinion for the court filed by Circuit Judge LINN; Circuit Judge DYK concurs in part and dissents in part.

LINN, Circuit Judge.

Bridgeport Fittings, Inc. (“Bridgeport”) appeals from the entry of judgment in favor of Arlington Industries, Inc. (“Arlington”) after a jury trial on Arlington’s suit for infringement of its United States Patent No. 5,736,674 (“'674 patent”). Arlington Indus., Inc. v. Bridgeport Fittings, Inc., No. 3:99 CV 1857 (M.D. Pa. June 25, 2002). Bridgeport also appeals from the entry of an amended permanent injunction. Arlington Indus., Inc. v. Bridgeport Fittings, Inc., No. 3:99-CV-1857 (M.D.Pa. July 24, 2002). Bridgeport argues that the district court erroneously construed three claim limitations and that these errors rendered the court’s jury instructions prejudi-cially erroneous. Because in each of the constructions it advances on appeal, Bridgeport improperly seeks to import limitations from the specification into the claims and otherwise fails to persuade the court that the jury instructions contained prejudicial error, we affirm both the judgment and the amended permanent injunction.

I. BACKGROUND

A. Initial Activities

In addition to other products, Bridgeport and Arlington competitively make and supply electrical box extenders. In 1995 or 1996, Thomas J. Gretz (“Gretz”), an employee of Arlington, and other officials from Arlington met with William McShane (“McShane”), a representative of McShane Industries, a third competitor. McShane held two issued United States Patents, Nos. 5,042,673 (“'673 patent”) and 5,117,-996 (“'996 patent”), both directed to electrical box extensions. The McShane box extenders were described in the McShane patent specifications as comprising a “generally tubular body ... sized to receive an electrical device ... and to be received within an existing electrical box.” '673 patent, col. 2,11. 28-33; '996 patent, col. 2, 11. 28-33. Embodiments of the patented box extensions disclosed in the '673 and '996 patents are shown below.

[1320]*1320[[Image here]]

McShane Industries sold what it characterized as a commercial embodiment of the '673 patent under the designation “DADJ.” The DADJ device is depicted below.

[1321]*1321[[Image here]]

The Arlington officials met with McShane to review McShane’s DADJ box extender as a possible addition to Arlington’s product line. Arlington ultimately chose not to distribute the DADJ product.

B. The Patent in Suit

On December 27, 1996, Gretz filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (“PTO”) application serial number 08/773,413 (“'413 application”), the patent application that ultimately issued as the '674 patent. This application was a continuation-in-part of an application Gretz submitted on June 20, 1996. Each of the applications is directed to an electric box extender, which is used to bring electrical boxes flush with newly installed sheet stock in a renovated building. As described, the box extender is provided with “wings” that “tend to flex inwardly” when the box extender is inserted into an existing electrical box. '674 patent, col. 4,1. 36. This flexing allows the box extender to “aecommodat[e] a wide range of sizes of electrical boxes.” Id. at col. 4, 11. 38-39. An embodiment of the patented box extender is depicted below.

[1322]*1322[[Image here]]

The “Background of the Invention” section of both specifications discussed prior art box extenders in general terms, including the type of box extender typified by the DADJ. Gretz did not, however, disclose either the McShane patents themselves or the details of the DADJ box extender to the PTO.

Both co-pending applications were rejected as obvious over a combination of references including United States Patent No. 4,134,636 (“Kleinatland”). Gretz then submitted an amendment with accompanying argument in both cases distinguishing, inter alia, Kleinatland. After the Examiner indicated that the pending claims in the '413 patent were allowable, Gretz expressly abandoned the earlier application. The Examiner then allowed all claims of the '413 application, and, on April 7, 1998, it issued to Gretz as the '674 patent. The '674 patent was then assigned by Gretz to Arlington.

The claims at issue are reproduced below, with the disputed limitations underlined.

1. A plastic electrical box extender for extending existing electrical boxe [sic] so that the extended electrical box is flush with a surface comprising:
a face member having an outward side and an inward side and an axis through the center of said face member;
at least two flanges extending from and coplanar with said face member;
a plurality of inwardly extending flat wings each having a base and with a base edge, an inward edge opposite said base edge, and two side edges opposite one another with said wings extending from the inward side of said face, said wings symmetrically disposed about said axis through the center of said face member, said wings and said face forming a generally tubular body portion sized to receive an electrical device, said wings capable of flexing about said base toward said axis through said face thereby allowing said tubular body portion to be received within existing electrical box; and
apertures through at least two of said flanges, said apertures capable of passing screws therethrough for securing said electrical box extender to said existing electrical box.
[1323]*132315. A one-piece plastic electrical box extender for extending existing electrical boxe [sic] so that the extended electrical box is flush with a newly installed surface comprising:
a face member having an outward side and an inward side and an axis through the center thereof;
at least two flanges extending from and eoplanar with said face member;
a plurality of sides extending from said inward side of said face member, each having a base end with a base edge and an inward edge opposite said base edge, two side edges with said sides symmetrically disposed about said axis through the center of said face member, said sides and said face member forming a generally tubular body portion sized to receive an electrical device, said sides capable of flexing about said base toward said axis through said face member thereby allowing said tubular body portion to be received within an existing electrical box;
comers connecting said side edges of said sides which are adjacent one another with said sides furthermore capable of having their corners removed to increase the degree of flexing about said base toward said axis through said face member to increase the amount of flexibility; and
apertures through at least two of said flanges, said apertures capable of passing screws therethrough' for securing said electrical box extender to said existing electrical box.
B. Proceedings Before the District Court

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Bluebook (online)
345 F.3d 1318, 68 U.S.P.Q. 2d (BNA) 1439, 2003 U.S. App. LEXIS 19719, 2003 WL 22208342, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/arlington-industries-inc-v-bridgeport-fittings-inc-cafc-2003.