Hor v. Chu, No. 11-1540 (Fed. Cir. 2012)
Annotate this CaseChu was a professor of physics, Hor was a graduate student and Meng worked in Chu’s group as an independent materials scientist, researching superconducting compositions with transition temperatures higher than the boiling point of liquid nitrogen. The 866 patent, filed in 1987 and issued in 2006, is titled “Superconductivity in Square-Planar Compound Systems.” The 418 patent, filed in 1989 and issued in 2010, is titled “High Transition Temperature Superconducting Compositions.” Compositions claimed in the patents were conceived between November 1986 and March 1987, and Chu is the sole named inventor on both patents. In 2008, Hor filed a complaint against Chu, seeking correction of inventorship of the 866 patent under 35 U.S.C. 256. In 2010, the district court allowed Meng to intervene. In 2010, after the 418 patent issued, the district court allowed Hor and Meng to add inventorship claims with respect to that patent, but held that laches, or, alternatively, estoppel, barred the claims, which arose before the patents issued. The Federal Circuit reversed the judgment in favor of Chu on his laches defense and vacated with respect to estoppel, but affirmed judgment in favor of Chu with respect to Meng’s unclean hands defense.
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