Sealed Air Corp. v. U.S. International Trade Commission

645 F.2d 976, 68 C.C.P.A. 93
CourtCourt of Customs and Patent Appeals
DecidedMarch 12, 1981
DocketC.A. 79-35 and 80-4; No. 79-35; No. 80-4; ITC Investigation No. 337 TA 54
StatusPublished
Cited by46 cases

This text of 645 F.2d 976 (Sealed Air Corp. v. U.S. International Trade Commission) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Customs and Patent Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Sealed Air Corp. v. U.S. International Trade Commission, 645 F.2d 976, 68 C.C.P.A. 93 (ccpa 1981).

Opinions

Markey, Chief Judge.

This is a consolidated appeal from the June 29, 1979, determination of the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) terminating investigation No. 337-TA-54, “Certain Multicellular Plastic Film” (film). All respondents save one were found in violation of section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended by the Trade Act of 1974, by reason of the importation of the film into, or its sale in, the United States. We affirm.

BACKGROUND

On May 12, 1978, Sealed Air Corp. (Sealed Air) filed a complaint with the ITC, alleging violations of section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (19 U.S.C. 1337), by the importation into the United States, or subsequent sale, of film manufactured in a foreign country by processes that allegedly infringed method claims 1 and 2 of U.S. Letters Patent 3,416,984 (’984).

After a January 1979 evidentiary hearing, a Commission Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) concluded that the claims were invalid under 35 U.S.C. 103 and recommended that no violation of 19 U.S.C. 1337 be found. The ALJ determined that the ITC had jurisdiction over all respondents.

Manufacturers named and served were: Tong Seae Industrial Co., Ltd. (Tong Seae) of Taiwan; Conform Plastics Ltd. (Conform) of New Zealand; and Unipak (H.K.) Ltd. (Unipak) of Hong Kong. [96]*96Importers named and served were Polybubble, Inc. (Polybubble) and Peter Darlington, d.b.a. Solar Pool Covers (Darlington).

Unipak neither answered the complaint nor participated in discovery. Conform filed a response but did not participate in discovery or in the hearing. Darlington participated in discovery but not in the hearing. Neither Conform nor Darlington is represented in this appeal.

A June 26, 1978, mailing of the complaint and other papers by the ITC to Unipak resulted in a return receipt stamped July 6, 1978. Unipak admittedly received Sealed Air’s request for discovery and declined to participate. Four shipments of film into the United States were made by Unipak, with Polybubble as the importer.

On December 7, 1978, upon motion by Sealed Air, the ALJ issued order No. 6, finding Unipak in default and ruling that “without further notice to Unipak, the facts may be found to be as alleged in the complaint and notice of investigation.”

The Commission: (1) Keversed the ruling of invalidity; (2) found Tong Seae’s process noninfringing; and (3) sustained the finding of jurisdiction with respect to Unipak. Conform and Unipak were found to have infringed claims 1 and 2 of the ’984 patent. All respondents except Tong Seae were held in violation of 19 U.S.C. 1337.

Polybubble, as an importer of Unipak’s products, and Tong Seae challenge the ruling that the ’984 patent is valid. Sealed Air challenges the determination of noninfringement by Tong Seae. Unipak challenges the determination that it is subject to the jurisdiction of the ITC.1

issues

(1) Would the subject matter of claims 1 and 2 of the ’984 patent have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made?

(2) Was the determination that Tong Seae’s extrusion process does not infringe claims 1 and 2 of the ’984 patent erroneous?

(3) Did the ITC have jurisdiction to exclude Unipak’s product?

(1) Validity of Claims 1 and 2

(a) The invention

The ’984 patent discloses and claims a process for manufacturing film. Two sheets of polyethylene are so heated, shaped, and bonded together as to form numerous airtight cells. The resulting cushioning and insulating properties make the product useful as packaging material and as covers for swimming pools.

[97]*97In the ’984 process, two sheets of film are separately heated. One sheet (the embossed film) is heated to a low temperature sufficient to render it deformable by vacuum drawing into the cavities of an embossing roller to form numerous discrete embossments. The second sheet (the laminating film) is heated to about the fusion temperature with at least one surface above the fusion temperature, and then applied to the now embossed surface of the embossed film while the latter is still on the embossing roller. During their mating, transfer of heat from the laminating film to the embossed film seals the two films to form a product having numerous airtight cells.

Unlike prior art techniques, the ’984 process employs a cooler embossed film and a hotter laminating film. It had previously been thought that effective sealing required the mating surfaces of both films to be at or above the fusion temperature2 at the kiss point, where the embossed film contacted the laminating film. The problem was that when the embossed film was heated to fusion temperature, it became so soft and weak that individual embossments often ruptured when subjected to vacuum during their formation. The solution to that problem disclosed in the ’984 patent is to so increase the temperature of the contact surface of the laminating film as to allow a reduced temperature of the contact surface of the embossed film, thus permitting vacuum embossment without rupture, and to transfer the excess heat from the laminating film to the embossed film at the kiss point, thus equalizing the temperatures of both films at or above the fusion temperature and producing an effective heat seal between them.

Claims 1 and 2 of the ’984 patent read:

1. The method of making cellular material comprising the steps of embossing a first heated sheet of plastic material having thermoplastic properties, said sheet having been heated on one side to about its fusion temperature, said embossments extending from the other side of said sheet, reducing the temperature on the other side of said sheet below the embossing temperature immediately after embossment thereof, heating a second sheet of plastic having thermoplastic properties to about the fusion temperature with a,t least one surface above the fusion temperature, feeding said one side of said second sheet into contact with said one side of said embossed sheet while above the fusion temperature to seal the embossments therein, said one surface of said second sheet transferring heat to said one side of said first sheet to equalize the temperatures of the meeting surfaces of said sheets at a temperature at least equal to the fusion temperature.
2. The method of making a cellular material according to claim 1 including the steps of cooling the other side of said first sheet immediately upon embossment thereof and then cooling said sheets to permanently seal them one to the other.

[98]*98(6) Validity

Analysis of validity under 35 U.S.C. 103 requires determination of the scope and content of the prior art, ascertainment of differences between the prior art and the invention claimed, and resolution of the level of ordinary skill in the art. Graham v.

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Bluebook (online)
645 F.2d 976, 68 C.C.P.A. 93, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sealed-air-corp-v-us-international-trade-commission-ccpa-1981.