Emergency Fuel, LLC v. Penzoil-Quaker State Co.

71 F. App'x 826
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
DecidedJuly 25, 2003
DocketNo. 02-1391
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 71 F. App'x 826 (Emergency Fuel, LLC v. Penzoil-Quaker State Co.) 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
Emergency Fuel, LLC v. Penzoil-Quaker State Co., 71 F. App'x 826 (Fed. Cir. 2003).

Opinion

PROST, Circuit Judge.

Emergency Fuel, LLC, Spare Tank, LLC, Leonard Bloom, William Hubbard, and The Estate of Reginald Spencer (collectively “Emergency Fuel”) appeal from a decision of the United States District Court for the District of Maryland granting Penzoil-Quaker State Company’s (“Penzoil’s”) motion for summary judgment of invalidity of the asserted claims of United States Patent Nos. 5,681,358 (“the ’358 patent”) and 5,938,799 (“the ’799 patent”) for lack of enablement, and United States Patent Nos. 6,110,237 (“the ’237 patent”) and 6,113,660 (“the ’660 patent”) for on-sale and public use statutory bars. We affirm the portion of the district court’s judgment granting summary judgment of invalidity of the ’358 and ’799 patents for lack of enablement, and reverse and remand the portion of the judgment invalidating the ’237 and ’660 patents.

BACKGROUND

Emergency Fuel is the owner of the four patents at issue in this appeal. Each of the subject patents claims an emergency fuel that provides for the clean and smooth operation of an internal combustion engine. The fuel can be stored safely in an automobile for a long period of time and later poured into its fuel tank when the automobile runs out of gas. Mr. William Hubbard and Mr. Reginald Spencer invented the emergency fuel and, with the assistance of counsel, applied for the various patents at issue in this case. They subsequently joined with Spare Tank, LLC, and Emergency Fuel, LLC to produce the emergency fuel for sale to the public under the trademark Spare Tank®.

Emergency Fuel filed its first patent application in September 1995. It abandoned this application soon thereafter in favor of a Continuation-In-Part (“CIP”) application, filed on February 20,1996, and resulting in the ’358 patent. On July 10, 1997, Emergency Fuel sent letters to QVC and Home Shopping Network, shop-at-home television programs. These letters attached a product information sheet for “SPARE TANK Emergency Fuel.” The letters described the product as “the first and only patented product in the world that is safe to carry in the trunk of a car (gasoline is not) and is ready to use in an out-of-gas situation.”1 The letters also stated, “[w]e are offering to you the one-gallon size because this is of interest to auto owners which represent the largest market.” Emergency Fuel filed a second CIP application on October 22,1997, which resulted in the ’433 patent (not accused of being infringed). Penzoil alleges that around November 1997, the inventors gave a sample of Spare Tank® to a third party, Milton Fick, who allegedly used the fuel in an internal combustion engine of a lawnmower at his home.2 On May 20, 1998, Emergency Fuel filed a third CIP application, which resulted in the ’799 patent.3 Emergency Fuel filed additional CIP applications on April 21, 1999, and July 29, 1999, which resulted in the ’237 and ’660 patents, respectively.

On January 18, 2000, Emergency Fuel filed an infringement suit alleging that Penzoil’s accused product infringes claim 1 of the ’358 patent and claim 4 of the ’799 patent. The ’237 and ’660 patents issued [828]*828after the commencement of the infringement action and were added to the complaint by amendment, which alleged that Penzoil infringed all the claims in these two patents.

Emergency Fuel filed a motion for summary judgment of literal infringement of the four patents in suit, which the district court denied. Penzoil subsequently sought summary judgment on several grounds, including that: (1) the asserted claims of the ’358 and ’799 patents are invalid for lack of enablement under 35 U.S.C. § 112; and (2) the ’237 and ’660 patents are invalid under 35 U.S.C. § 102(b) because Emergency Fuel offered to sell its fuel in July 1997 and the fuel was in public use around November 1997, both occurring more than one year prior to the actual filing dates of these patents. The district court granted summary judgment of invalidity on these two grounds and found it unnecessary to reach Penzoil’s remaining arguments for summary judgment and both parties’ other outstanding motions. Emergency Fuel, LLC v. Penzoil-Quaker State Co., 187 F.Supp.2d 575, 578, 583 (D.Md.2002).

Emergency Fuel filed a timely appeal to this court and we have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1295(a)(1).

DISCUSSION

We review the district court’s grant of summary judgment de novo, with all justifiable factual inferences being drawn in favor of the party opposing the motion. See Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 255, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). Summary judgment is appropriate where there is no genuine issue of material fact and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. See Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c). Furthermore, we review the district court’s claim construction de novo. Cybor Corp. v. FAS Techs., Inc., 138 F.3d 1448, 1456 (Fed.Cir.1998) (en banc).

I. INVALIDITY OF THE ’358 AND ’799 PATENTS

Emergency Fuel alleges that Penzoil infringes claim 1 of the ’358 patent, which reads: ,

1. A method of using a stable emergency fuel in an internal combustion engine of a vehicle comprising the steps of:
providing a container having mineral spirits therein, the mineral spirits having a flash point of at least 100 F. or higher,
safely storing the container with the emergency fuel in the vehicle for a period of at least twelve months unless needed for use prior thereto, and pouring the mineral spirits into a fuel tank of the vehicle in the event the vehicle runs out of fuel, the emergency fuel providing clean and smooth operation of the internal combustion engine.

’358 patent, col. 10, II. 53-65 (emphasis added).

The ’358 specification states that “[i]n order to run smoothly, the fuel must have an octane number in the same range as or higher than regular gasoline. This is typically from 86 to 88.” Id. at col. 5, II. 56-58. In light of the foregoing statement, the district court concluded that claim 1 covers an emergency fuel with an octane number of at least 86. The ’358 specification also teaches that “[t]he presence of naphthenes, aromatics and isoparaffins all help to improve the octane number.” Id. at col. 5, II. 62-64. With regard to the use of aromatics, the district court found that the ’358 patent taught against using large amounts of aromatic hydrocarbons, while the more recent patents acknowledge that to fulfill the smooth and clean engine oper[829]*829ation requirement one must increase aromatic content. Thus, the district court concluded that the ’358 patent does not teach the full scope of the claimed invention, specifically, how to obtain an octane number of 86 using aromatics.

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71 F. App'x 826, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/emergency-fuel-llc-v-penzoil-quaker-state-co-cafc-2003.