Sunoco Partners Marketing & Terminals L.P. v. U.S. Venture, Inc., No. 20-1640 (Fed. Cir. 2022)
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Gasoline producers blend butane into gasoline before selling it because butane makes gasoline more volatile, helping vehicles start more readily in colder temperatures, and butane is cheaper than gasoline. Sunoco’s patented technology seeks to maximize butane content while complying with EPA regulations concerning volatility, which vary depending on season and location. Sunoco’s patents “describe a system and method for blending butane with the gasoline at a point close to the end of the distribution process: immediately before being distributed to the tanker trucks that take gasoline to consumer gas stations.” Producers can “blend the maximum allowable butane into each batch based on where the truck is going and what month it is.” Sunoco successfully sued Venture, alleging infringement.
The Federal Circuit reversed a holding that the experimental-use doctrine insulated a subset of asserted patent claims from the on-sale bar, vacated the infringement judgment as to those claims, and remanded for the district court to analyze the second prong of the on-sale bar. The court also vacated the infringement judgment with respect to patent claims that it affirmed are invalid in a separate appeal. The court adopted the district court’s claim constructions and affirmed its infringement judgment regarding two patent claims; vacated a treble-damages award; and affirmed the denial of lost-profits damages and $2 million reasonable royalty.
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