HOCKERSON-HALBERSTADT, INC., Plaintiff/Counterclaim Defendant-Appellant, and AMERICAN SPORTING GOODS CORP., Counterclaim Defendant, v. AVIA GROUP INTERNATIONAL, INC., Defendant/Counterclaimant-Appellee, and REEBOK INTERNATIONAL, LTD., Defendant-Appellee., 222 F.3d 951

Summary

Plaintiff sued defendant for infringement of a patent covering an article of outer footwear. Following the trial court's claim construction, the parties entered into a proposed order in which plaintiff stipulated to non-infringement and agreed to dismiss its claims with prejudice. After the trial court entered final judgment based on that order, plaintiff appealed the trial court's claim construction. The court affirmed. The trial court correctly construed the claims. During the prosecution of the patent, the inventor disclaimed a particular interpretation of "groove," thereby modifying the term's ordinary meaning. The disclaimer committed the inventor to a particular meaning, which was binding on the later litigation. Plaintiff could not rely on the patent drawings, which did not define precise proportions, to provide a meaning contrary to the arguments in the prosecution history. Defendant was entitled to rely on the prosecution history in forming its business strategies.