Mobil Oil Corp. v. Amoco Chemicals Corp.

915 F. Supp. 1333, 1994 WL 880166
CourtDistrict Court, D. Delaware
DecidedJune 29, 1995
DocketCivil A. 83-207 LON
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 915 F. Supp. 1333 (Mobil Oil Corp. v. Amoco Chemicals Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Delaware primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Mobil Oil Corp. v. Amoco Chemicals Corp., 915 F. Supp. 1333, 1994 WL 880166 (D. Del. 1995).

Opinion

LONGOBARDI, Chief Judge.

I. NATURE AND STAGE OF THE PROCEEDINGS

This is the opinion relative to the damages phase of an action for patent infringement originally filed by Plaintiff Mobil Oil Corporation (“Mobil”) against Defendant Amoco Chemical Company (“Amoco”). Docket Item (“D.I.”) 1. At a trial on the issues of infringement, willful infringement, validity and enforceability of Mobil’s U.S. Patent Nos. 3,702,886 (“the ’886 patent”); Re. 29,857 (“the ’857 patent”); 3,856,872 (“the ’872 patent”); and 4,049,573 (“the ’573 patent”), D.I. 240 at 1-3, ¶ 7, the Court found that Mobil’s patents were not invalid. The Court also found that Amoco did not infringe any claims of the ’573 patent, Amoco literally infringed claim 6 of the ’872 patent 1 and Amoco infringed claims 1 and 3 of the ’886 patent 2 under the doctrine of equivalents and claims 1 and 2 of the ’857 patent 3 under the doctrine of equivalents. D.I. 151; see Mobil Oil Corp. v. Amoco Chemicals Corp., 779 F.Supp. 1429 (D.Del.1991), aff'd, 980 F.2d 742 (Fed.Cir.1992) (per curiam). The Court further found that: (1) Amoco had not willfully infringed the ’886, ’872 or ’857 patents; (2) the case was not an exceptional one; and (3) Mobil’s remedies, including damages, would be considered in a subsequent phase of litigation. D.I. 151.

In an eleven-day trial, the Court heard testimony from twelve witnesses who appeared live and one witness who appeared by videotape and received designated deposition testimony from at least thirty other witnesses. The damages trial transcript exceeds twenty-seven hundred pages and the exhibits admitted into evidence number more than sixteen hundred. It is upon this record that the Court bases its decision.

*1337 II. STATEMENT OF JURISDICTION

The Court has subject matter jurisdiction over this matter pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §§ 1331, 1338(a) and 2201. Venue is proper under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1391 and 1400(b).

III. BACKGROUND AND FACTS

For a detailed discussion of the technology and the facts surrounding Amoco’s infringement, see this Court’s liability opinion, Mobil Oil Corp. v. Amoco Chemicals Corp., 779 F.Supp. 1429 (D.Del.1991), aff'd, 980 F.2d 742 (Fed.Cir.1992) (per curiam).

A. MOBIL’S INFRINGED PATENTS

Amoco infringed three of Mobil’s patents, two of which, the ’857 and ’872 patents, cover a xylene isomerization process and are referred to as the “process patents.” The third patent, the ’886 patent, covers the composition of ZSM-5 catalyst and is referred to as the “composition of matter” or “composition” patent. The ’857 patent expired on February 5, 1991; the ’872 patent expired on December 24, 1991; and the ’886 patent expired on November 14, 1989. D.I. 240 at Exhibit J-2; see also Defendant’s Exhibit (“DX”) 1903; DX 1904; DX1905.

B. AMOCO’S PARAXYLENE OPERATIONS

Amoco manufactured paraxylene (“PX”) at four separate facilities: two located in Decatur, Alabama (the Decatur No. 1 and No. 2 units); and two located in Texas City, Texas (the Texas City No. 1 and No. 2 plants). Ely Transcript (“Tr.”) 2564. The Texas City PX units used an extracted feedstock from Amoco’s Texas City refinery. D.I. 240 at Exhibit J-2, ¶ 9. The Decatur PX units used an unextracted feedstock which contains certain non-aromatic or saturate impurities. Ely Tr. 2568-69.

The Texas City No. 1 plant began operating in 1967 and is still in operation. D.I. 240 at Exhibit J-2; see also Ely Tr. 2564-65. It used the Octafining catalyst from 1967 to 1973, at which time, it switched to Amocofining. D.I. 240 at Exhibit J-2, ¶ 11. In 1976, Amoco installed Mobil’s MVPI catalyst at Texas City No. 1 and, in 1983 Amoco, replaced MVPI with its AMSAC catalyst. Ely Tr. 2580-84; Plaintiffs Exhibit (“PX”) 2354; DX 1929; D.I. 240 at Exhibit I. The Texas City No. 2 plant began operating in 1967 or 1968 with Octafining but switched to Amoco-fining in 1975. Ely Tr. 2565; D.I. 240 at Exhibit J-2, ¶ 13. Amoco replaced Amoco-fining with MVPI at Texas City No. 2 in 1977 and replaced MVPI with AMSAC in 1984. PX 2354; DX 1929; D.I. 240 at Exhibit I.

The Decatur No. 1 plant began operating in 1968 and was closed in 1979 because its PX capacity was not needed by Amoco. Ely Tr. 2564-66. Amoco installed the Octafining catalyst at Decatur No. 1 in 1968 and replaced Octafining with Amoeofining in 1974 which was used until the unit was closed. DX 1929. The Decatur No. 2 plant began operating in 1978 and is still in operation. Ely Tr. 2566. Although the Decatur No. 2 unit was designed to use the Amoeofining catalyst, it began its operations with Mobil’s MVPI. Amoco replaced MVPI with its AM-SAC catalyst in 1980. Ely Tr. 2567-68; PX 2354; DX 1929.

The Texas City Nos. 1 and 2 and the Decatur No. 2 units produced approximately 18.59 billion pounds of PX using AMSAC catalysts during the period of infringement. PX 2354; D.I. 240 at Exhibit I.

C.MOBIL’S LICENSING OF THE VPI TECHNOLOGY

In 1973, Mobil first utilized a ZSM-5 catalyst to produce PX in its plant in Naples, Italy. D.I. 1544; Peniek Tr. at 838. Mobil calculated the benefits of its new MVPI process and catalyst to be between 0.6-1.0 cents per pound of PX produced. DX 1288. Due to the commercial success of the VPI technology at Naples and Mobil’s relatively small xylenes operation worldwide, DX 1374.1 (less than 3%), Mobil decided to license the VPI process and lease its MVPI catalyst. DX 1544; Penick at 839. Mobil began the licensing and leasing of its MVPI technology in 1975. DX 1544; Penick Tr. 839. Although it debated about selling the catalyst, Mobil chose to lease the catalyst for two primary reasons: (1) it enabled Mobil to maximize its income; and (2) Mobil would retain title of the catalyst and “thus could control its use *1338 and disposition.” DX 1544; Penick Tr. 840. Mobil fixed its lease rates to be cost-neutral with the prior technology catalyst used in xylene isomerization. Green Tr. 2365-66, 2369; DX 1544. Under Mobil’s standard MVPI catalyst lease, the licensee was to pay Mobil: $3.00 per pound of catalyst on delivery; $3,125 per pound quarterly for the first two years; $2.75 per pound quarterly for the third year; and $2.50 per pound quarterly after three years. See, e.g., DX 1290.

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