Friction Division Products, Inc., Plaintiff-appellant, v. E.i. Du Pont De Nemours & Company, Incorporated, Defendant-appellee, 883 F.2d 1027 (Fed. Cir. 1989)

DECISION

Friction Division Products, Inc. appeals from a judgment of the United States District Court for the District of Delaware, 658 F. Supp. 998, 3 USPQ2d 1775, and 693 F. Supp. 114, 8 USPQ2d 1652, holding United States Patent No. 4,374,211 invalid. We affirm.

OPINION

We affirm on the basis of the district court's opinions. The references to the Third Circuit's "substantial representation of the invention" standard, 658 F. Supp. at 1008, 3 USPQ2d at 1782 and 693 F. Supp. at 121-22, 8 USPQ2d at 1658, were harmless error because the court also applied a correct legal standard of anticipation in its first opinion, 658 F. Supp. at 1009-10, 3 USPQ2d at 1782-83, because some of the claims were held not anticipated, and because the court correctly determined that the latter claims were invalid under 35 U.S.C. § 103 (1982) in its second opinion, 693 F. Supp. at 127-32, 8 USPQ2d at 1663-68. See Stratoflex, Inc. v. Aeroquip Corp., 713 F.2d 1530, 1540, 218 USPQ 871, 880 (Fed. Cir. 1983).