Thomson, S.A. v. Quixote Corp.

166 F.3d 1172 (1999)

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Thomson, S.A. v. Quixote Corp.

United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
166 F.3d 1172 (1999)

Facts

Thomson, S.A. (plaintiff) was the assignee of four patents relating to optical information storage devices, such as compact discs. Thomson sued Quixote Corporation and Disc Manufacturing, Inc. (collectively, Quixote) (defendant), alleging infringement of the patents. At trial, the parties stipulated that the invention date for the patents was August 25, 1972. Quixote presented testimony from two employees of MCA Discovision, Inc. (MCA), attempting to establish that Thomson’s patent claims were anticipated by an unpatented laser video disc invented by the MCA team before August 1972. The jury returned a verdict for Quixote, finding that Thomson’s claims were invalid for lack of novelty under 35 U.S.C. § 102(g) based on MCA’s prior invention. Thomson moved for judgment as a matter of law. The district court denied Thomson’s motion, concluding that the evidence presented at trial supported the jury’s findings. Thomson appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, arguing that the testimony of the MCA employees attempting to establish priority, without further corroboration, was insufficient to support a holding of invalidity under § 102(g).

Rule of Law

Issue

Holding and Reasoning (Rich, J.)

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