PolyVision Corp. v. Smart Technologies Inc.

501 F. Supp. 2d 1068, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 40068, 2007 WL 1596520
District Court, W.D. Michigan·Decided June 1, 2007·No. 1:03-CV-476, 1:04-CV-713·Published·Cited by 1 cases

Opinion

OPINION

QUIST, District Judge.

Plaintiff, PolyVision Corporation (“Poly-Vision”), has sued Defendants, Smart Technologies, Inc. and Smart Technologies Corporation (collectively “Smart”), in Case No. 1:03-CV-476, alleging that Smart is willfully infringing United States Patent No. 5,838,309 (the “'309 patent”) and that PolyVision is not infringing U.S. Patent Nos. 5,448,263 (the “'263 patent”) and 6,141,000 (the “'000 patent”), owned by Smart. Subsequent to the filing of Case No. l:03-CV-476, this Court received a related case from the Eastern District of Virginia, captioned Smart Technologies Inc. v. PolyVision Corporation and Para-gram Sales Company, Inc., which was assigned Case No. 104-CV-713 and consolidated with Case No. 1:03-CV-476. In Case No. 1:04-CV-476, Smart alleges that PolyVision and Defendant Paragram (a seller or distributor of PolyVision’s products), have infringed the '263 patent, the '000 patent, and two other patents owned by Smart, United States Patent Nos. 6,337,681 (the “'681 patent”), and 6,747,636 (the “'636 patent”) (collectively the “Martin patents”). All of the patents in suit relate to whiteboard technology.

The parties have engaged in extensive discovery and, at the least, exhaustive motion practice, culminating in the filing of a number of motions for summary judgment. The Court has recently issued its memorandum pertaining to claim construction issues for all of the patents. Now before the Court are the following motions regarding the '309 patent: (1) PolyVision’s motion for partial summary judgment that claims 6, 10, and 20 are infringed by Smart’s 500 Series Smart Board, including Smart models 540, 560, and 580; (2) Poly-Vision’s motion for partial summary judgment dismissing Smart’s “best mode” and “enablement defenses”; (3) PolyVision’s *1075 motion for partial summary judgment that claims 6, 10, and 20 of the '309 patent are not anticipated; and (4) Smart’s motion for summary judgment of non-liability regarding the '309 patent. Also before the court are the following motions relating to the Martin patents: (1) PolyVision’s motion for partial summary judgment of non-infringement and/or invalidity of claims 8 and 14-19 of the 636 patent; and (2) Smart’s motion for summary judgment that PolyVision’s IBID, TS, and WT products infringe the Martin patents.

For the reasons set forth below, the Court rules as follows: (1) regarding Poly-Vision’s '309 patent, the Court concludes that Smart’s accused products do not infringe, and the Court will therefore deny PolyVision’s third motion for summary judgment of infringement of the '309 patent and grant Smart’s motion for summary judgment regarding non-liability for infringement of the '309 patent; (2) regarding the validity of the '309 patent, the Court concludes that is not invalid and will therefore grant PolyVision’s second motion for summary judgment dismissing Smart’s Section 112 defenses and PolyVision’s Fourth motion that the asserted claims of the '309 patent are not anticipated; (3) regarding the use of the term “Windows™” in claims 8 and 14-19 of Smart’s '636 patent, the Court concludes that Poly-Vision’s accused products do not infringe because those claims are limited to Windows 3.0 and 3.1 and earlier versions, which PolyVision’s products do not use, and will therefore grant PolyVision’s first motion for summary judgment that it does not infringe those claims of the '636 patent; and (4) regarding infringement of the Martin patents, the Court concludes that PolyVision’s accused products infringe all of the asserted claims except claims 13, 14, and 16 of the '636 patent.

Summary Judgment Standard

Summary judgment is appropriate if 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. Material facts are facts which are defined by substantive law and are necessary to apply the law. Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 248, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 2510, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). A dispute is genuine if a reasonable jury could return judgment for the non-moving party. Id.

The court must draw all inferences in a light most favorable to the non-moving party, but may grant summary judgment when “the record taken as a whole could not lead a rational trier of fact to find for the non-moving party.” Agristor Financial Corp. v. Van Sickle, 967 F.2d 233, 236 (6th Cir.1992) (quoting Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co., Ltd. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 587, 106 S.Ct. 1348, 1356, 89 L.Ed.2d 538 (1986)).

Discussion

I. Motions Pertaining To The '309 Patent

A. Infringement

PolyVision requests summary judgment on its claim that Smart’s 500 Series whiteboards, including models 540, 560, and 580 (the “SB5 whiteboard”), infringe claims 6, 10, and 20 of the '309 patent. PolyVision contends that the SB5 infringes those claims either literally or under the doctrine of equivalents. Smart has filed its own motion for summary judgment regarding non-liability — the counterpart to PolyVision’s motion — that claims 6,10, and 20 are not infringed by the SB5 whiteboard, either literally or under the doctrine of equivalents.

An accused device may be found to infringe a claim either literally or under the doctrine of equivalents. “Literal in-

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PolyVision Corp. v. Smart Technologies Inc., 501 F. Supp. 2d 1068, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 40068, 2007 WL 1596520 (W.D. Mich. 2007).

501 F. Supp. 2d 1068 (PolyVision Corp. v. Smart Technologies Inc.) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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