Brief Fact Summary. Faytex (Defendant) sold innersoles identical to the ones covered in Atlantic’s (Plaintiff) patent, but created a different process.
Synopsis of Rule of Law. In product-by-process claims, infringement is limited by the process terms when a product is made by the claimed process only.
Issue. In product-by-process claims, is infringement limited by the process terms when a product is made by the claimed process only?
Held. (Rader, J.) Yes. In product-by-process claims, infringement is limited by the process terms when a product is made by the claimed process only. The Supreme Court has stated in a line of cases that the focus should be on whether the accused product was made by the claimed process when there is an infringement inquiry into product claims with process limitations. It is not an infringement on a claim to a product by a specific process when the same product is made from a different process. Although stated as the exception to the rule, the Patent and Trademark Office and the Court of Customs Patent Appeals does recognize product-by-process claims, and therefore limit claims to products created by the process. The finding that Defendant did not infringe in selling shoes made by Sorbothane is affirmed. Vacated in part, affirmed in part, and remanded.
It is also a well-recognized rule that, although a product has definite characteristics by which it may be identified apart from the process, still, if in a claim for the product it is not so described, but is set forth in the terms of the process, nothing can be held to infringe the claim which is not made by the process.
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