Claim Construction Favors Patent Owner
The District Court of Minnesota agreed with the patent owner's interpretation of claims in Donaldson Co., Inc. v. Baldwin Filters, Inc., 2007 WL 748399 (D. Minn. 3/8/07).
Donaldson alleged patent infringement of three patents (here, here and here) by Baldwin. At the claim construction stage of the litigation, Baldwin sought to limit the scope of all three patents with restrictive interpretations of the claims.
The parties agreed that extrinsic evidence would not be needed to evaluate the claims. After evaluating the intrinsic evidence, the court found that Baldwin's interpretations had no support. The case will proceed with Donaldson's interpretation of the claims.
