Reversal Of District Court's Claim Construction In Patent Infringement Suit Re DNA Constructs For Porcine Cirovirus

Intervet Inc. v. Merial Ltd., 09-1568, involved a challenge to the district court's entry of summary judgment of noninfringement based on its construction of six disputed claim terms in a patent infringement suit, involving patents directed to DNA constructs encoding a type of porcine cirovirus.

First, the court reversed the district court's claim construction in holding that it erred in construing the disputed claims of the patent in suit.  Thus, the court vacated the district court's judgment of noninfringement.  The court also held that,  because the district court erred in finding that prosecution history estoppel precluded defendant from arguing that the accused product is equivalent to one of the exemplary embodiments of the asserted claim, district court is instructed to consider on remand arguments related to literal infringement and to infringement under the doctrine of equivalents.

Related Resource:

• Full text of Intervet Inc. v. Merial Ltd., 09-1568