US Water Services v Novozymes
U.S. Water Services, Inc. v. Novozymes A/S
No. 2015-1950, -1967 Fed. Cir. Dec. 15, 2016 Opinion by Circuit Judge Wallach with Circuit Judges Hughes and Stoll.
The district court granted Novozymes’s Motion for Summary Judgment in part, finding certain patent claims invalid as inherently anticipated by various prior art references. However, the district court denied Novozymes’s Motion as to inequitable conduct by U.S. Water. The parties filed cross-appeals. The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (Federal Circuit) reversed the grant of summary judgment on anticipation and affirmed the denial of summary judgment on inequitable conduct.
The technology at issue relates to the production of ethyl alcohol (i.e., ethanol) from a milled grain. The Patent Family in issue generally claims methods of reducing fouling of processing machinery through the use of phytase.
Read the entire case summary here
Image of phytate chemical structure from wikipedia
Federal Bar member attorneys may access the full case summary by registered patent attorney B.C. “Bill” Killough in the January 2017 issue of Federal Circuit Case Digest.
B.C. Killough is a registered patent attorney based in Charleston, SC. On behalf of his clients, Bill has obtained more than 300 United States patents, participated in prosecuting more than 100 foreign patent applications and he has filed more than 1000 trademark applications with the US Patent and Trademark Offices.