Dr. Harry Gaus v. Conair Corporation (Fed.Cir.)

April 1, 2004 on 10:39 pm | In Caselaw |

Dr. Harry Gaus v. Conair Corporation
Federal Circuit, April 1, 2004
Dr. Harry Gaus filed suit alleging that certain of Conair Corporation’s hairdryers infringed his patent, U.S. Patent No. 4,589,047. “The district court granted Conair’s motion for summary judgment that Conair’s devices did not literally infringe the ’047 patent, but it denied Conair’s request for summary judgment of noninfringement under the doctrine of equivalents. The case was then tried to a jury, which found that Conair infringed Dr. Gaus’s patent under the doctrine of equivalents and that the infringement was willful. The jury awarded Dr. Gaus $28.5 million in compensatory damages, and the district court enhanced that award by $8,550,000 because of Conair’s willfulness. We hold that as a matter of law Dr. Gaus’s patent did not cover the Conair device, either literally or under the doctrine of equivalents, and we therefore reverse the judgment against Conair.”
Copy of the case here.

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