Toothbrush walks into a bar
Patent – Patently-O 2020-12-31
Summary:
by Dennis Crouch
Maxill, Inc. v. Loops, LLC (Fed. Cir. 2020)f [Maxill v. Loops]
The Loops patent covers a flexible toothbrush — and the claims require “an elongated body being flexible throughout the elongated body.” US8448285 (Claim 1). Apparently, these brushes are sold primarily to “institutional” settings such as prisons.
Early in the case, the patentee moved for summary judgment of infringement. The district court denied the motion, and acted sua sponte to enter summary judgment of non-infringement. Apparently, the judge had inspected the accused product and found that the head-portion of the elongated body wasn’t flexible. Although the body was made of flexible rubber, once the stiff head (with bristles) was molded-in, the body was no longer flexible.
On appeal, the Federal Circuit has reversed and remanded — finding that the district court erred in its claim construction of “elongated body being flexible throughout the elongated body.” The appellate court found that the flexibility requirement does not require the whole assembly to be flexible, but rather only that the elongated itself be flexible.
Loops argues that the accused toothbrush’s elongated body is made of orange flexible material that is flexible throughout (a position that Maxill does not dispute) and that this component is separate from the more-rigid head component.