W.L. Gore & Associates, Inc. v. Garlock, Inc.

670 F. Supp. 760, 3 U.S.P.Q. 2d (BNA) 1511, 1987 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13154
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Ohio
DecidedFebruary 6, 1987
DocketNos. C79-2074, C80-174
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 670 F. Supp. 760 (W.L. Gore & Associates, Inc. v. Garlock, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Ohio primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
W.L. Gore & Associates, Inc. v. Garlock, Inc., 670 F. Supp. 760, 3 U.S.P.Q. 2d (BNA) 1511, 1987 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13154 (N.D. Ohio 1987).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OF OPINION

MANOS, District Judge.

On November 2, 1979 and February 7, 1980, W.L. Gore & Associates, Inc. (“Gore”) filed the above-captioned cases alleging patent infringement by Garlock, Inc., defendant. Jurisdiction is proper under 28 U.S.C. § 1338(a)1 and 35 U.S.C. § 281.2 On February 28, 1980, the parties stipulated to consolidation of the cases for trial. From June 23, 1982 to July 22, 1982, they tried the cases to the Court, which on November 19, 1982 issued a decision rendering some claims of the patents invalid. W.L. Gore & Associates, Inc. v. Garlock, Inc., 220 U.S.P.Q. 220 (N.D.Ohio 1982). On November 14, 1983, the Court of Appeals affirmed in part and reversed in part. W.L. Gore & Associates, Inc. v. Garlock, Inc., 721 F.2d 1540 (Fed.Cir.1983), cert. denied, 469 U.S. 851, 105 S.Ct. 172, 83 L.Ed.2d 107 (1984). The case is currently before the Court on remand from the Court of Appeals to determine whether Garlock has infringed on the patents. Pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 52(a),3 the following findings and conclusions are entered on these issues.

I.

There are two (2) patents at issue: United States Letters Patent Number 3,953,566 (“the ’566 patent”) and United States Letters Patent Number 4,187,390 (“the ’390 patent”). The ’566 patent teaches processes for producing porous products, whereas the ’390 patent describes inventions in porous products. Robert W. Gore is the inventor of these processes and products, and Gore is the owner of these patents.

Gore contends that Garlock uses processes which infringe claims three (3) and nineteen (19) of the ’566 patent. They state:

3. A process for the production of a porous article of manufacture of a polymer of tetrafluoroethylene which process comprises expanding a shaped article consisting essentially of highly crystalline poly(tetrafluoroethylene) made by a paste-forming extrusion technique, after removal of lubricant, by stretching said unsintered shaped article at a rate of about 100% per second and maintaining said shaped article at a temperature between about 35°C and the crystalline melt point of said tetrafluoroethylene polymer during said stretching.
19. A process for the production of a porous article of manufacture of a polymer of tetrafluoroethylene which process comprises expanding a shaped article consisting essentially of highly crystalline poly(tetrafluoroethylene) made by a paste-forming extrusion technique, after removal of lubricant, by stretching said unsintered shaped article at a rate ex[762]*762ceeding about 10% per second such that its final length in the direction of expansion is greater than about five times the original length, and maintaining said shaped article at a temperature between about 35°C and the crystalline melt point of said tetrafluoroethylene polymer during said stretching.

Garlock has argued that these claims are invalid and alternatively that its processes do not infringe them.

Gore alleges that Garlock makes, uses, and sells products which infringe claims fourteen (14), eighteen (18), thirty-five (35), thirty-six (36), forty-three (43), sixty-seven (67), and seventy-seven (77) of the ’390 patent. These state:

14. A porous material in the form of a film consisting essentially of polytetrafluoroethylene polymer, which material has a microstructure characterized by nodes interconnected by fibrils and has a matrix tensile strength in at least one direction above 9290 psi, which material has been heated to a temperature above the crystalline melt point of said polymer and has a crystallinity below about 95%.
18. A porous material in the form of continuous filaments consisting essentially of polytetrafluoroethylene polymer, which material has a microstructure characterized by nodes interconnected by fibrils and has a matrix tensile strength in at least one direction above 9290 psi, which material has been heated to a temperature above the crystalline melt point of said polymer and has a crystallinity below about 95%.
35. A laminated structure comprising (a) a first shaped article formed of a porous material made of a tetrafluoroethylene polymer, which material has a microstructure characterized by nodes interconnected by fibrils and has a matrix tensile strength in at least one direction above about 7,300 psi, and (b) a second shaped article bonded to said first shaped article.
36. The structure of claim 35 in which said first shaped article is formed of a porous material which has a matrix tensile strength in at least one direction of at least 9290 psi, and has a crystallinity below about 95%.
43. A porous material made of a tetrafluoroethylene polymer, which material has a microstructure characterized by nodes interconnected by fibrils, which material (a) has a matrix tensile strength in at least one direction above about 9290 psi, (b) has been heated to a temperature above 327°C and has a crystallinity below about 95%, and (c) has a dielectric constant of 1.2-1.8.
67. An impregnated structure comprising
(a) a shaped article formed of a porous material made of a tetrafluoroethylene polymer which material has a microstructure characterized by nodes interconnected by fibrils and has a matrix tensile strength in at least one direction above about 9290 psi, and
(b) a polymer impregnated within the pores of the said shaped article. 77. The structure of claim 35 in which
the first shaped article is a sheet having pores that will pass a gas but will not pass liquid water.

As with the claims of the ’566 patent, Gar-lock has argued invalidity and noninfringement.

II.

The ’566 patent teaches a process for the production of porous products of polytetrafluoroethylene (“PTFE”). Gore alleges that Garlock infringes by using three (3) processes to make PTFE products; the processes are those for making the products— PLASTOLON film, PTFE filament, and PLASTI-THREAD tape. Garlock counters that its processes are not within the claims of the ’566 patent.

A.

Garlock argues that its processes do not infringe because they involve stretching PTFE at rates less than the minimum rate which the ’566 patent teaches, that is, for claim 19 at rates less than ten percent (10%) per second and for claim 3 at rates less than one hundred percent (100%) per second.

[763]*763The parties dispute what the term, “rate of stretch,” means. Gore urges that it is the percent of stretch divided by the time of stretching. Garlock proposes that it means the change in velocity with respect to distance along a stretched sample. In the initial decision, this Court held that the evidence of these conflicting understandings of “rate of stretch” showed that the term was indefinite and thus the claims were invalid. Gore,

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670 F. Supp. 760, 3 U.S.P.Q. 2d (BNA) 1511, 1987 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13154, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wl-gore-associates-inc-v-garlock-inc-ohnd-1987.