Intercontinental Great Brands, LLC v. Kellogg North America Co.

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Kraft’s patent, issued in 2005, describes a combination of two known kinds of packaging. One, common for cookies, uses a frame surrounded by a wrapper. The other, common for wet wipes, uses a package on which the label may be pulled back to access the contents, then put back in place to reseal the package to preserve the items remaining inside. In Kraft’s infringement suit against Kellogg, the district court entered summary judgment of invalidity for obviousness, 35 U.S.C. 103, but rejected Kellogg’s counterclaim of unenforceability of the patent due to alleged inequitable conduct by Kraft, chiefly in an ex parte reexamination proceeding. The Federal Circuit affirmed, finding no error in the sequence of steps the district court took in arriving at its ultimate obviousness determination and upholding the court’s conclusion that any reasonable jury would have to find a motivation to combine. Kellogg’s evidence was insufficient to permit a finding of the intent required for inequitable conduct based on Kraft’s reexamination arguments. View "Intercontinental Great Brands, LLC v. Kellogg North America Co." on Justia Law