In a significant win for our client Steuben Foods, Inc., the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit recently confirmed that the jury properly found that the defendant Shibuya Hoopman Corporation infringed two of Steuben’s patents. The matter will now be remanded to the district court which will decide whether to reinstate the $38M jury verdict or hold additional proceedings concerning damages. A copy of the opinion can be found here.
The case was of particular importance to the patent bar because it addressed a seldom-invoked doctrine known as the reverse doctrine of equivalents. Under that doctrine, Shibuya argued essentially that they should be held not to infringe because their infringing system differed substantially from the system described in the figures of Steuben’s patents. Finding Steuben’s rebuttal arguments “compelling,” the Federal Circuit rejected Shibuya’s argument and held that Shibuya’s systems infringed Steuben’s patents.
