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Patent Law Keyed to Adelman
Hewlett-Packard Co. v. Bausch & Lomb, Inc.
Facts
An X-Y plotter invented by Yeiser is described in the '950 patent, which was issued in 1973. The invention was briefly commercialized. In 1980 or 1981, Hewlett-Packard (HP) (Plaintiff) introduced a moving paper X-Y plotter to great success. Defendant, a competitor to Plaintiff, discovered the '950 patent and bought it from then-assignee for $30,000. Defendant was concerned that Claim 1, which arguably covers Plaintiff's plotter, was overly broad, therefore Defendant filed a reissue application for three new claims that were narrower, Claims 10-12. The claims did not specify an error warranting reissue or how the error occurred, and therefore were rejected by the examiner. Defendant overcame this rejection when they submitted two affidavits from the original patent prosecutor, Fleming. Defendant stated that Fleming's claim was incorrect because he was only able to examine the invention or speak with the inventor briefly. Both affidavits were later found to be factually false. Plaintiff then filed a declaratory judgment action asserting invalidity of all claims of the '684 patent containing the reissue application. Defendant counterclaimed, charging Plaintiff with infringement. However, the district court held the reissued claims invalid because Defendant had filed blatantly false affidavits, and without the affidavits, Defendant failed to satisfy § 251. Defendant appealed.
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