Cabot Corporation, Plaintiff/appellant, v. Phillips Petroleum Company and Phillips Chemical Company,defendants/cross- Appellants, 847 F.2d 842 (Fed. Cir. 1988)

DECISION

The judgment of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas, No. CA-2-85-0053 (July 22, 1987), is affirmed because Cabot Corp. has not proved infringement of claim 4 of U.S. Patent No. Re. 28,974.

OPINION

We are satisfied that the district court correctly concluded that the "coherent stream" is the pertinent limitation of the claimed invention for purposes of determining infringement and that the court's interpretation of that term in claim 4 as precluding the use of spray nozzles which atomize the feedstock is correct. That is the essence of this case and we see no error in the finding that Phillips Improved Efficiency Reactors do not use the coherent stream process as contemplated by claim 4. Therefore it is not infringed either literally or under the doctrine of equivalents. Cabot's remaining arguments, even if accepted, would not affect our disposition.