SUNOCO PARTNERS MARKETING & TERMINALS L.P., Plaintiff-Cross-Appellant v. U.S. VENTURE, INC., U.S. OIL CO., INC., Defendants-Appellants, 32 F.4th 1161

Summary

HOLDINGS: [1]-The district court's determination that the experimental-use doctrine insulated a subset of asserted patent claims from the on-sale bar was improper, as under the Pfaff analysis, a transaction before the critical date was an offer for sale made to commercially exploit an invention rather than primarily for experimental purposes; [2]-The district court's claim construction judgment that defendants infringed a patent was proper, as nothing in a specification passage (or anywhere else) justified limiting the claim to actual butane vapor pressure measurements; [3]-Because the district court's damages enhancement was based on clearly erroneous findings of fact, it amounted to an abuse of discretion; [4]-The decision to deny plaintiff lost-profits damages was proper, as its $31.585 million figure represented more than just the damage it incurred from defendants' infringement.