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Patent Law Update

Supreme Court Holds That Narrowing Claim Amendment Made To Obtain a Patent-Whether To Avoid Prior Art or Not-Gives Rise To a "Flexible Bar" To Claiming Equivalents

In Festo Corp. v. Shoketsu Kinzoku Kogyo Kabushiki Co., No. 00-1543, 535 U.S.__ (May 28, 2002), the United States Supreme Court held that a patentee who narrows a claim element as a condition for obtaining a patent disavows claiming the broader subject matter of that claim element, whether the narrowing amendment was made to avoid prior art or to comply with some other patent law provision, such as 35 U.S.C. § 112. The Supreme Court further held that making such an amendment does not necessarily serve as a complete bar to asserting the doctrine of equivalents.

Background

Festo Corporation is the owner of two patents for an improved magnetic rodless cylinder, a piston-driven device that relies on magnets to move objects in a conveying system. Festo's patent applic...

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