CAFC Affirms Summary Judgment of Noninfringement of Cell Phone Design Patent
In a 3-page, nonprecedential decision, the CAFC today affirmed a grant of summary judgment of noninfringement in a design patent case involving the cell phone design shown below. Kyocera Wireless Co. v. President Electronics, Ltd., Appeal No. 06-1131 (May 2, 2006).
The patentee asserted that summary judgment was improper without expert testimony, but the Board disagreed:
The record does not reflect that any of the parties sought to introduce expert evidence, and expert evidence is not always necessary to resolve questions of patent infringement. See, e.g., Union Carbide Corp. v. Am. Can Co., 724 F.2d 1567, 1573 (Fed. Cir. 1984). While expert evidence may be necessary in cases involving complex technology, see Centricut, LLC v. Esab Group, Inc., 390 F.3d 1361, 1369 (Fed. Cir. 2004), this is not such a case, and Mr. Colida [the patentee] does not explain how expert evidence would have been helpful. Because we find no error in the district court’s disposition of this case, we affirm the judgment below.