Imatec, Ltd. v. Apple Computer, Inc.

15 F. App'x 887
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
DecidedJuly 26, 2001
DocketNo. 00-1262
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 15 F. App'x 887 (Imatec, Ltd. v. Apple Computer, 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
Imatec, Ltd. v. Apple Computer, Inc., 15 F. App'x 887 (Fed. Cir. 2001).

Opinion

GAJARSA, Circuit Judge.

This is a patent infringement action brought by the plaintiffs Imatec Ltd. (“Imatec”) and Dr. Hanoch Shalit against Apple Computer, Inc. (“Apple”). Imatec and Dr. Shalit appeal from a grant of summary judgment by the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York dismissing the plaintiffs claim against Apple on the basis that the patentees are not the owners of U.S. Patent Nos. 4,939,-581 (the “’581 patent”), 5,115,229 (the “’229 patent”), and 5,345,315 (the “ ’315 patent”) (the “Shalit patents”), and therefore lack standing to bring a claim of patent infringement. Imatec, Ltd. v. Apple Computer, Inc., 81 F.Supp.2d 471 (S.D.N.Y.2000). For the reasons discussed below, we affirm the judgment of the district court.

BACKGROUND

The inventor of the patented technology, Dr. Hanoch Shalit, sought to improve the accuracy with which images printed on film match those displayed on a video monitor, to generate accurate representations of images used to diagnose medical conditions such as those resulting from a magnetic resonance imaging (“MRI”) scan. Accordingly, the three patents at issue involve systems for matching the image displayed on one output device, such as a video monitor, to that generated by another output device.

The ’581 patent, entitled, “Method and System in Video Image Hard Copy Reproduction,” is directed toward a method and system for providing accurate photographic reproductions of grayscale images taken from a black-and-white camera and displayed on a video screen. The system described in the ’581 patent generates correction data by comparing the luminance values of a grayscale test image displayed on the screen of a video monitor with the luminance values obtained from a photograph taken of the monitor of an electronic camera also displaying the test image. The ’229 patent, a continuation-in-part of the ’581 patent, is entitled, “Method and System in Video Image Reproduction” and describes a method and system for displaying identical images on two different displays. This invention measures and compares the luminance values of a test image displayed on both display screens and generates correction data so that im[889]*889ages displayed on the second display screen match those displayed on the first. The ’315 patent, a continuation-in-part of the ’229 patent, is entitled “Method and System for Improved Tone and Color Reproduction of-Electronic Image on Hard Copy Using a Closed Loop Control” and is directed toward a method and system for producing accurate photocopies of grayscale and color images displayed on a monitor. Using a densitometer, luminance values of a grayscale test image displayed on the screen of a video monitor are measured. The luminance values of a photocopy of the test image are also measured. The two sets of data are compared to generate correction data which is used to correct the image data sent to the printer. As a result, the hard copy image matches the image displayed.

Representative claim 13 of the ’315 patent, provides:

13. The method of producing a series of color hard copy images which are accurate reproductions of the colors of video images on a video monitor screen without affecting the video monitor screen images, including the steps of:

forming a test video image on the screen of the video monitor, measuring the colors of the test image on the monitor screen using an electronic meter to provide a set of monitor screen color values, and entering the set of monitor screen values into a computer;
forming a test image on the hard copy using a hard copy printing system, said printing system including electronic means to vary the control signals to control the color intensity printed by said printing system on a dot-by-dot basis, the hard copy test image having predetermined colored areas including defined areas differing color intensities; printing said hard copy test image to produce a color printed image of said hard copy test image using the same batch of hard copy color reproduction materials as will be thereafter used by the printing system to print the images from the video monitor; sensing the col- or differences on the hard copy test image using a photoelectric densitometer and entering the sensed color differences into the computer; comparing said entered hard copy color difference values with the set of monitor color values stored in computer memory; using the computer to calculate and generate a set of corrections to said control signals for each color value for each dot printed by said printing system based on the said comparison, and altering the colors printed by said printing system according to said set of computer produced corrections using the electronic means of said printing system.

According to the disclosure of the ’315 patent, a black-white grayscale test pattern is generated by the output device, as a photocopy or photograph, and the luminance of the image is measured by a densitometer. The signals read by the densitometer of the test pattern are sent to a computer. Using a look-up table filled with “standard” density values-corresponding to values obtained using a spot photometer measured from the monitor while the test pattern is displayed-the computer compares the “standard” values to the actual values measured. Based on this comparison, compensation data is generated and used to correct input dot print density values of all input images.

Before filing the patent applications, which eventually issued as the disputed patents, Dr. Shalit was an employee of FONAR Corporation (“FONAR”), a manufacturer of MRI equipment. Dr. Shalit began working for FONAR on June 29, 1987, as head of FONAR’s photographic physics department. Dr. Shalit was an [890]*890employee of FONAR until November 14, 1988, when he became president of FO-NAR Photographic Services, an entity legally separate from FONAR. Nine days later Dr. Shalit filed the first of the three patent applications. Dr. Shalit remained a consultant to FONAR until December 26, 1989, at which time Dr. Shalit founded Imatec and became its president and chairman.

As a condition of employment with FO-NAR, Dr. Shalit was required to enter into an “Agreement with Respect to Assignment of Inventions and Confidential Information.” The assignment agreement provides:

“I agree to assign, and hereby do assign, to FONAR ... all my rights to inventions which I have made or conceived or which I may hereafter make or conceive, either solely or jointly with others, in the course of [my] employment, or with the use of the time, material or facilities of FONAR, or relating to any product, method, substance, machine, article of manufacture or improvements therein within the scope of the business of said FONAR....”

The agreement expressly excludes from its scope patents covering inventions Dr. Shalit listed in a designated space. In the space provided, Dr. Shalit wrote: “single step laser printing” and “photographic video recording for keeping records of video tape content.” He did not list any pending patent applications and did not describe any inventions except the two phrases noted.

Dr. Shalit was hired by FONAR to develop a system that would produce an accurate photographic reproduction of an MRI-generated image as it appeared on a video monitor. During his term of employment at FONAR, Dr. Shalit developed such a system, styled the “Perfect Image System,” which produced photographic images that accurately represented those displayed.

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