A Federal Circuit panel appeared wary Wednesday of Provisur Technologies Inc.’s argument that Weber Inc. knew it was infringing its patents for meat slicing and packaging machines, the basis for a $10.5 million judgment against Weber last year.
Weber argues that, at the very least, the lower court’s finding of willfulness should be vacated. Much of the oral argument also revolved around whether Provisur’s experts could adjust the Weber machine’s settings to make it work like Provisur’s without the help of Weber technicians.
The Weber machines were built to slice the meat and move it to an extended conveyor that then retracts to fill the packaging pockets with the slices. A key claim in Provisur’s patent applies to a conveyor that moves forward to drop the sliced food into the pockets.
Provisur argues that end users can reconfigure Weber machines to make them advance-to-fill like Provisur’s, which constitutes infringement. Weber, however, contends that such a switch could only be made by a Weber technician.
