Mitali Palnitkar
Published On: January 22, 2022 at 17:01 IST
On January 21, 2022, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit had overturned an Import Ban on the Hitachi and Metabo nail guns in a Patent Case filed by Kyocera Senco Industrial Tools Inc. based in Japan. Both the companies were sent back to the United States International Trade Commission (ITC) for further Proceedings.
The Case was heard by Chief US Circuit Judge Kimberly Moore, and Circuit Judges Timothy Dyk and Tiffany Cunningham.
The Court of Appeals stated that ITC had made mistakes in its previous Ruling against Hitachi and Metabo tool maker Koki Holdings America Ltd in relation to admitting expert testimony with the interpretations of Patent Terms.
In 2017, Kyocera had filed a Complaint against Koki at ITC. It Alleged that Koki company’s imports of gas-spring nailers had infringed the Patents that belonged to Senco Industrial Tool unit. An Administrative Judge found that Koki had not infringed the Patent in question.
The ITC issued a Ban on Infringing nail guns and later allowed the sale of the redesigned versions of the tools.
The Court agreed with Koki that ITC was not right in allowing an inexperienced engineer to do an Expert Testimony. It also stated that ITC had misconstrued some parts of the Patent that Kyocera Alleged Koki had Infringed.
Both the companies are also involved in a Case in Delaware Federal Court. The claims of Kyocera against Koki in this Case are on hold until the ITC Case ends.
Also read: Procedure of filing Patent Applications in India