This morning the Federal Circuit issued a nonprecedential opinion in a patent case appealed from the United States International Trade Commission. The opinion addresses arguments the Commission erred with regard to its analysis of claim construction and infringement. Here is the introduction to the opinion.
Jennewein Biotechnologie GmbH v. International Trade Commission (Nonprecedential)
Glycosyn LLC (Glycosyn) filed a complaint against Jennewein Biotechnologie GmbH (Jennewein) with the International Trade Commission (Commission) under 19 U.S.C. § 1337, alleging that human milk oligosaccharides imported by Jennewein infringed Glycosyn’s U.S. Patent No. 9,970,018 (’018 patent). Jennewein used several Escherichia coli (E. coli) bacterial strains to produce the human milk oligosaccharides it imported into the United States. The Commission determined that of the three Jennewein strains at issue, two of the strains infringed the ’018 patent and one did not. In the Matter of Certain Hum. Milk Oligosaccharides & Methods of Producing the Same, Inv. No. 337-TA-1120, 2020 WL 3073788 (U.S.I.T.C. June 8, 2020) (Comm’n Opinion) (Commission Opinion); see also In the Matter of Certain Hum. Milk Oligosaccharides & Methods of Producing the Same, Inv. No. 337-TA-1120, 2019 WL 5677974 (U.S.I.T.C. Sept. 9, 2019) (Initial Determination) (Initial Determination); see also In the Matter of Certain Hum. Milk Oligosaccharides & Methods of Producing the Same, Inv. No. 337-TA-1120, 2018 WL 6837945 (U.S.I.T.C. Dec. 18, 2018) (Order No. 22: Construing the Terms of the Asserted Claims of the Patents at Issue) (Claim Construction Order).
Jennewein appeals aspects of the Commission’s claim construction and infringement determination. Because we conclude that the Commission did not err in its claim construction or in its finding of infringement, we affirm its limited exclusion order.