The Federal Circuit on Thursday overturned a jury verdict that lighting manufacturer Opti-Luxx owed $23,000 for allegedly infringing two patents held by Canadian rival Smartrend Manufacturing Group, delivering a major win for the U.S. company.
A three-judge panel reversed the lower court’s judgment on a utility patent and vacated the finding of infringement on a design patent, citing errors in the claim construction that guided the jury.
Design Patent Tossed, Remanded for Clarification
The appellate panel found that the design patent verdict was based on a flawed interpretation of the term “transparency.” The court vacated that portion of the decision and remanded it for further proceedings under the correct understanding of the term.
“While the district court may consider extrinsic evidence, any testimony at odds with the patent’s written record should be given no weight,” the opinion stated. The court added that expert testimony must be backed by objective evidence, such as technical dictionaries or other verifiable materials, and warned against relying on unsupported conclusions.
