Olaf Soot Design, LLC v. Daktronics, Inc.

220 F. Supp. 3d 458, 2016 WL 6270736
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedOctober 26, 2016
Docket15 Civ. 5024
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 220 F. Supp. 3d 458 (Olaf Soot Design, LLC v. Daktronics, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Olaf Soot Design, LLC v. Daktronics, Inc., 220 F. Supp. 3d 458, 2016 WL 6270736 (S.D.N.Y. 2016).

Opinion

OPINION

Sweet, District Judge.

Plaintiff Olaf Soot Design, LLC (“Olaf Soot” or “Plaintiff’) has moved for claim construction on 12 terms appearing in U.S. Patent No. 6,520,485 (“the ’485 Patent”). Defendants Daktronics, Inc. and Daktron-ics Hoist, Inc. (“Daktronics” or “Defendants”) has moved for summary judgment of non-infringement on the ’485 Patent. Based on the conclusions set forth below and the claim constructions determined by the Court, the motion for summary judgment on non-infringement is denied.

Prior Proceedings

Plaintiff brought this action for patent infringement on June 26, 2015. The ’485 Patent is for a stage scenery winch system that helps to move large scenes quickly and efficiently replacing the work that had been done by counterweight sets.

The instant motion for summary judgment on non-infringement was heard and marked fully submitted on June 8, 2016. The claim construction motion was heard and marked fully submitted on September 15, 2016.

[463]*463The Applicable Standard

Summary judgment is appropriate only where “there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and ... the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(c). A dispute is “genuine” if “the evidence is such that a reasonable jury could return a verdict for the nonmoving party.” Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 248, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). The relevant inquiry on application for summary judgment is “whether the evidence presents a sufficient disagreement to require submission to a jury or whether it is so one-sided that one party must prevail as a matter of law.” Id. at 251-52,106 S.Ct. 2505.

A court is not charged with weighing the evidence and determining its truth, but with determining whether there is a genuine issue for trial. Westinghouse Elec. Corp. v. N.Y. City Transit Auth., 735 F.Supp. 1205, 1212 (S.D.N.Y. 1990) (quoting Anderson, 477 U.S. at 249, 106 S.Ct. 2505). “[T]he mere existence of some alleged factual dispute between the parties will not defeat an otherwise properly supported motion for summary judgment; the requirement is that there be no genuine issue of material fact.” Anderson, 477 U.S. at 247-48, 106 S.Ct. 2505 (emphasis in original).

The Supreme Court has held that claim construction is a matter of law to be determined by the court in order to assist the jury with questions of patent infringement. Markman v. Westview Instruments, 517 U.S. 370, 372, 116 S.Ct. 1384, 134 L.Ed.2d 577 (1996). There are two steps to an infringement claim on summary judgment. The first step is determining “the meaning and scope of the patent claims asserted to be infringed” and the second step is “comparing the properly construed claims to the device accused of infringing.” Markman v. Westview Instruments, 52 F.3d 967, 976 (Fed. Cir. 1995).

Claim Construction Standard

Claim terms “are generally given their ordinary and customary meaning” as understood by “a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention.” Phillips v. AWH Corp., 415 F.3d 1303, 1312-13 (Fed. Cir. 2005) (en banc) (citations and internal quotation marks omitted). The court reads a claim term “not only in the context of the particular claim in which the disputed term appears, but in the context of the entire patent, including the specification.” Id. at 1313; see also, Williamson ex rel. At Home Bondholders’ Liquidating Trust v. Verizon Communications Inc., Nos. 11 Civ. 4948(LTS)(HBP), 13 Civ. 0645(LTS)(HBP), 2013 WL 4083267, at *1-2 (Aug. 12, 2013).

The patent specification is “always highly relevant to the claim construction analysis” has been described as “a dictionary when it expressly defines terms used in the claims” and “the single best guide to the meaning of a disputed term.” Vitronics Corp. v. Conceptronic, Inc., 90 F.3d 1576, 1582 (Fed. Cir. 1996). It is a “statutory requirement that the specification describe the claimed invention in ‘full, clear, concise, and exact terms.’ ” Phillips, 415 F.3d at 1316 (quoting 35 U.S.C. § 112).

“However, preferred embodiments and written descriptions in the specification should not be used to limit the scope of claims.” Williamson ex rel. At Home Bondholders’ Liquidating Trust, 2013 WL 4083267, at *2; see also, Phillips, 415 F.3d at 1320 (“reading a limitation from the written description into the claims” is “one of the cardinal sins of patent law”) (quoting SciMed Life Sys., Inc. v. Advanced Cardiovascular Sys., Inc., 242 F.3d 1337, 1340 (Fed. Cir. 2001)). “[I]t is important to keep in mind that the [464]*464purposes of the specification are to teach and enable those of skill in the art to make and use the invention,” not to define the limits of a claim term. Phillips, 415 F.3d at 1323.

Agreed Upon Constructions

The parties agreed to the constructions for Terms 1 and 2 and therefore the parties’ mutual constructions are adopted.

Disputed Constructions

Term 3: Base Member

The parties dispute the construction for Term 3, the base member. Plaintiffs proposed construction is “one or more components of the winch assembly that are connected to the carriage to support and position the drum assembly.” Defendants’ proposed construction is “a component of the winch that is separate from the carriage and supports the drum.” There are three disputes in these competing constructions. The first is whether there can be more than one component in the base member; second, whether the base member is connected to the carriage or separate from the carriage; third, whether the base member supports the drum.

First, the parties dispute whether there can be more than one component in the base member because the allegedly infringing Vortek product produced by the Defendants is constructed with two components that collectively comprise the base member. If there can only be one base member, then the Voi’tek product is not infringing on Plaintiffs patent.

The Federal Circuit instructs that when interpreting a claim, “First, we look to the words of the claims themselves ... to define the scope of the patented invention.” Vitronics Corp. v. Conceptronic, Inc., 90 F.3d 1576, 1582 (Fed. Cir. 1996). In the ’485 Patent, Claims 21 and 27 both define base member as “a base member having first and second end portions.” This language indicates that there is only one base member.

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220 F. Supp. 3d 458, 2016 WL 6270736, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/olaf-soot-design-llc-v-daktronics-inc-nysd-2016.