United Construction v. Tile Tech was decided on December 15, 2016 on appeal from the Central District of California. The patent concerned a support pedestal adapted to support surface tiles to form an elevated building surface. After “a series of delays, missed deadlines, and other procedural missteps by [defendant] Tile Tech,” the district court granted a default judgment and a permanent injunction to plaintiff United Construction on claims of patent infringement and unfair competition. The injunction enjoined “substantially similar” products that do not necessarily infringe the patent, and required Tile Tech to surrender the “notched washer mold” even though the washer by itself did not directly infringe. Tile Tech appealed.
The Federal Circuit affirmed the district court’s grant of default judgment, and of a permanent injunction.
The Court then held the permanent injunction not overly broad. Under FRCP 65(d), a proper injunction “state[s] the reasons why it issued,” “state[s] its terms specifically,” and “describe[s] in reasonable detail—and not by referring to the complaint or other document—the act or acts restrained or required.” In the patent context, injunctions have satisfactory scope when they “prohibit infringement of the patent by the adjudicated devices and infringement by devices not more than colorably different from the adjudicated devices.”
The enjoining of “substantially similar” products was not erroneous. Under Tivo v. EchoStar, “the party seeking to enforce the injunction [against a party whose products have already been adjudged to be infringing] must prove both that the newly accused product is not more than colorably different from the product found to infringe and that the newly accused product actually infringes.” Because the enjoining of “substantially similar” products conformed to this two-step standard, that portion of the injunction was not overly broad.
The requirement for Tile Tech to surrender the notched washer mold was not erroneous. First, the notched washer was a “crucial” component of the patented support pedestal. Second, Tile Tech had never sold a notched washer, so the injunction did “not immediately present any potential disruption to Tile Tech’s non-infringing business products.” Third, at oral argument, United’s counsel stated that United would not seek to enforce the injunction should Tile Tech use notched washers for non-infringing purposes. Thus, the surrender requirement was an “acceptable means of preventing future infringement to United.”
Lastly, the Federal Circuit found the injunction violated no unfair competition laws.
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