Defendants deemed first inventor of contested subject matter
Solvay, S.A. v. Honeywell Specialty Materials LLC, et al, Civ. No. 06-557-SLR, December 9, 2008.
Robinson, J. Defendants’ motion for summary judgment of invalidity is granted. Plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment of no invalidity is denied.
The patent-in-suit discloses a process for the manufacture of HFC-245fa -- one of a group of non-ozone depleting hydroflourocarbons that were legislatively mandated to replace ozone depleting chloroflourocarbons and hydrochloroflourocarbons. Plaintiff accepts that defendants are the first inventor but contends that defendants abandoned, suppressed or concealed their invention in a competing patent and therefore defendants cannot be considered the first inventor of the subject matter claimed by the patent-in-suit. Plaintiff argues that defendants’ abandonment, suppression or concealment is demonstrated through their alleged policy to suppress inventions for commercial reasons when their value is unknown, defendants’ change in attitude about market predictions for HFC-245fa as the predictions correspond to the Department of Energy’s (“DOE”) regulatory activity and defendant’s failure to disclose the invention in their patent. In support of its motion, plaintiff points to certain language in a Request and Authority for Patent Application Preparation (RAFPAP) which defendants completed in 1995, arguably disclosing defendants’ corporate policy to suppress inventions. While general policy can be relevant to a determination of whether defendant abandoned, suppressed or concealed the invention, plaintiff offers no evidence from which a reasonable jury could conclude that defendants intentionally abandoned, concealed or suppressed their invention in this case and no evidence of delay.
