Filed under: Case Updates, Patents | 1 March, 2011 | by Chris G

Decided: January 31, 2011

The CAFC upheld the district court’s determination on summary judgment that three of  Tokai’s patents were invalid as obvious.  The patents-in-suit relate to safety and triggering mechanisms in utility lighters.  The panel majority found that various combinations of cigarette lighter prior art rendered the asserted claims obvious.  In particular, one of the issued claims in U.S. 5,897,308 required that the locking mechanism be unlocked using a user’s thumb, while the lighter is ignited with a finger.  Although the court conceded that the prior art taught only the reverse configuration (finger to unlock, thumb to ignite), it concluded that the reversal of the finger position was “nothing more than a predictable variation on the prior art,” and that a combination of three prior art references and the “mere reversal” of the finger positions rendered the ‘308 patent claims obvious.  The court also rejected Tokai’s argument that the district court failed to impose an “enhanced burden” on Easton to show invalidity because some of the asserted prior art references were considered during prosecution.

http://www.cafc.uscourts.gov/images/stories/opinions-orders/10-1057.pdf