In Judge Sue L. Robinson’s claim construction opinion in C.R. Bard, Inc. et al. v. Angiodynamics, Inc., C.A. No. 15-218-SLR-SRF (D. Del. May 19, 2017), the Court held that the preambles found in the asserted patents were limiting, namely, “an assembly for identifying a power injectable vascular access port, comprising “; “a method of performing a power injection procedure, comprising”; and “a system for identifying a power injectable vascular access port.”
Here, “given the undisputed focus of each of the asserted patents is on how to identify or use a power injectable vascular access port, the Federal Circuit’s decisions in On Demand Machine Corp. v. Ingram Industries, Inc., 442 F.3d 1331 (Fed. Cir. 2006) and Corning Glass Works v. Sumitomo Electric U.S.A., Inc., 858 f.2d 1251 (Fed. Cir. 1989), resonate most directly to the facts at bar” in that the preambles “’serve[d] to focus the reader on the invention that is being claimed’ and ‘state[d] the framework of the invention,’” and gave “life and meaning” to the inventions claimed. Id. at 2. Citing the patent, the Court observed that “the inventors . . . recognized that (1) power injection procedures require a vascular port structured to accommodate the fluid flow rate and pressure rates of such a procedure; and (2) it was important to identify the access port as being structured for power injection. . . . As the court understand the claims at issue, then, the focus is on how to make a power injectable vascular access port identifiable, not necessarily on how to make a power injectable vascular access port.” Id.
C.R. Bard, Inc. et al. v. Angiodynamics, Inc. (D. Del. May 19, 2017)
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