Vehicular Tech. Corp. v. Titan Wheel Int'l, Inc.

141 F.3d 1084, 46 U.S.P.Q.2d 1257 (1998)

Study Aids
Case Briefs Overview
Casebooks
Case Briefs
V
From our private database of 46,300+ case briefs, written and edited by humans—never with AI.

Vehicular Tech. Corp. v. Titan Wheel Int'l, Inc.

United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
141 F.3d 1084, 46 U.S.P.Q.2d 1257 (1998)

Facts

Vehicular Technologies Corporation (PowerTrax) (plaintiff) owned U.S. Patent No. 5,413,015 (the 015 patent). The 015 patent disclosed a locking differential that offered many improvements on prior differentials, including a newly formulated spring system made of a pin and two concentric springs. Two years prior to the issuance of the 015 patent, PowerTrax introduced the Lock-Rite, which implemented the new differential. The written description in the specification of the 015 patent repeatedly highlighted that a primary benefit of the concentric-spring system was that the inner spring could be used as a backup for the outer spring if the outer spring malfunctioned. A market competitor of PowerTrax, Titan Wheel International (Tractech), created the E-Z Locker by reverse engineering the Lock-Rite but implemented a spring system using a single spring and plug. Because the E-Z Locker only included a single spring, there was no backup in the event of a spring failure. PowerTrax sued Tractech for infringement of the 015 patent under the doctrine of equivalents and requested a preliminary injunction. The district court granted the preliminary injunction in favor of PowerTrax without considering the backup-spring function present in the Lock-Rite and absent in the E-Z Locker. Tractech appealed.

Rule of Law

Issue

Holding and Reasoning (Clevenger, J.)

Dissent (Newman, J.)

What to do next…

  1. Unlock this case brief with a free (no-commitment) trial membership of Quimbee.

    You’ll be in good company: Quimbee is one of the most widely used and trusted sites for law students, serving more than 806,000 law students since 2011. Some law schools—such as Yale, Berkeley, and Northwestern—even subscribe directly to Quimbee for all their law students.

    Unlock this case briefRead our student testimonials

  2. Learn more about Quimbee’s unique (and proven) approach to achieving great grades at law school.

    Quimbee is a company hell-bent on one thing: helping you get an “A” in every course you take in law school, so you can graduate at the top of your class and get a high-paying law job. We’re not just a study aid for law students; we’re the study aid for law students.

    Learn about our approachRead more about Quimbee

Here's why 806,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:

  • Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,300 briefs, keyed to 988 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
  • The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
  • Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
  • Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.

Access this case brief for FREE

With a 7-day free trial membership
Here's why 806,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
  • Reliable - written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students
  • The right length and amount of information - includes the facts, issue, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents
  • Access in your class - works on your mobile and tablet
  • 46,300 briefs - keyed to 988 casebooks
  • Uniform format for every case brief
  • Written in plain English - not in legalese and not just repeating the court's language
  • Massive library of related video lessons - and practice questions
  • Top-notch customer support

Access this case brief for FREE

With a 7-day free trial membership

Casebooks

Patent

Key Terms