ARLINGTON INDUSTRIES v. BRIDGEPORT FITTINGS

692 F. Supp.2d 487

ARLINGTON INDUSTRIES, INC., Plaintiff v. BRIDGEPORT FITTINGS, INC., Defendant.

Bridgeport Fittings, Inc., Consolidated Plaintiff, v. Arlington Industries, Inc., Consolidated Defendant.

Civil Action No. 3:01-CV-0485.

United States District Court, M.D. Pennsylvania.

March 2, 2010.

Alan M. Anderson, Matthew R. Palen, Sharna A. Wahlgren, Briggs & Morgan P.A., Minneapolis, MN, Joseph G. Ferguson, De Angelo Brother, Inc., Hazleton, PA, Mark E. Ungerman, Morrison & Foerster, LLP, Washington, DC, Robert N. Gawlas, Jr., Rosenn, Jenkins & Greenwald, LLP, Wilkes Barre, PA, for Bridgeport Fittings Inc.

Lucy Grace D. Noyola, Kathryn L. Clune, Crowell & Moring LLP, Mark L. Hogge, Shailendra K. Maheshwari, Greenberg Traurig, LLP, Washington, DC, Auzville Jackson, Jr., Richmond, VA, Robert J. Tribeck, Rhoads & Sinon LLP, Harrisburg, PA, for Arlington Industries, Inc.

MEMORANDUM

CHRISTOPHER C. CONNER, District Judge.

This is a consolidated patent infringement suit in which Arlington Industries, Incorporated ("Arlington") accused Bridgeport Fittings, Incorporated ("Bridgeport") of infringing claim 8 of United States Patent Number 5,266,050 (the "`050 patent") and Bridgeport sought a declaratory judgment of non-infringement. On September 25, 2009, a jury returned a verdict of infringement and breach of contract in Arlington's favor. (See Doc. 632.) Presently before the court are a total of ten post-trial motions seeking various relief. (See Docs. 640-42, 644-49, 747.) In this memorandum, the court will address Bridgeport's renewed motion (Doc. 647) for judgment as a matter of law and its motion (Doc. 642) for a new trial.

I. Relevant Background & Procedural History

Arlington and Bridgeport manufacture and design metallic and non-metallic electrical conduit fittings, which are used to connect electrical wiring and cable. In 1992, Arlington developed a new type of fitting, intended to replace previous units whose installation required the use of two hands to screw the device into an electrical junction box.¹ This new connector featured a circular spring metal adaptor, to which at least two outwardly sprung members were attached at the trailing end. When the adaptor was inserted into the knockout hole of an electrical junction box, its outwardly sprung members locked the adaptor into place. Thus, Arlington's connector allowed a user to quickly connect the device to a junction box using one hand instead of two, thereby reducing installation time and associated labor costs. Arlington eventually obtained several patents on this product, including, inter alia, the '050 patent.²

In 1999, Bridgeport introduced its own product line of quick-connect fittings called the "Snap-In" and "Speed-Snap" fittings. Two years later, Arlington sued Bridgeport, arguing that the Snap-In and Speed-Snap fittings infringed the '050 patent. The litigation proceeded for three years only to settle on the eve of trial. Bridgeport and Arlington entered into a consent decree on April 7, 2004, wherein Bridgeport (1) stipulated to the '050 patent's validity, (2) admitted that its Snap-In and Speed-Snap fittings infringed the '050 patent, and (3) submitted to entry of a permanent injunction prohibiting it from making, using, selling, offering for sale, or importing the infringing products or "any colorable imitation of such products." (See Doc. 270.) A stipulation of dismissal was entered on April 15, 2004, and the matter was thereafter closed. (Doc. 251.)

In September 2005, Bridgeport designed a new product line of electrical fittings, which it denominated the "Whipper-Snap." Several months later, Arlington notified Bridgeport that various models in its Whipper-Snap line infringed claim 8 of the '050 patent. Bridgeport responded by filing a suit for declaratory judgment of non-infringement on December 19, 2005. This matter was initially assigned to the Honorable A. Richard Caputo. (See Bridgeport Fittings, Inc. v. Arlington Indus., Inc., No. 3:05-CV-2622 (M.D.Pa.), Dkt. No. 1.) In its complaint for declaratory judgment, Bridgeport averred that its Whipper-Snap products were "substantially and materially different" from the Snap-In and Speed-Snap fittings, and requested a judgment of non-infringement for the products designated by catalog numbers 38ASP, 380SP, 841SP, 846SP, 850SP, 8400SP, GF38SP, SG38ASP, and SG38SP.

On February 1, 2006, Arlington countersued, contending that the nine products identified in Bridgeport's complaint infringed its '050 patent, and that Bridgeport was in breach of the consent decree agreed-to by the parties in 2004. (See Bridgeport Fittings, Inc. v. Arlington Indus., Inc., No. 3:05-CV-2622 (M.D.Pa.), Dkt. No. 18 ¶¶ 9, 18-22.) Arlington simultaneously moved to transfer the declaratory judgment action to the undersigned, a motion which Judge Caputo granted on February 6, 2006, (see id., Dkt. No. 19.) In an order dated April 6, 2006, the undersigned consolidated the 2005 declaratory judgment action with Arlington's earlier suit for infringement, and reopened the above-captioned matter. (Doc. 267.)

On May 31, 2006, Arlington filed a separate patent infringement suit, alleging that two of Bridgeport's Whipper-Snap connectors—catalog numbers 3838ASP and 3838SP—were infringing United States Patent Number 6,521,831 (the "'831 patent"). This case was assigned to Judge Caputo, presumably because it concerned a distinct patent and different products. (See Arlington Indus., Inc. v. Bridgeport Fittings, Inc. ("Arlington II"), 3:06-CV-1105 (M.D.Pa.), Dkt. No. 1.) On June 27, 2006, Arlington amended its complaint in Arlington II, alleging that connector models 3838ASP and 3838SP (hereinafter "the duplex connectors") also infringed the '050 patent. (Arlington II, Dkt. No. 3 ¶¶ 10-14.) Although infringement of the '050 patent was now an issue in both lawsuits, neither party moved to consolidate Arlington II with the above-captioned action, and the matters proceeded on distinct, but parallel tracks. Whether this failure to seek consolidation was simply an oversight or an intentional, strategic decision, it is without question the dangling thread that unraveled a myriad of post-trial and, presumably, appellate issues.

The gravamen of the instant matter is the meaning and application of claim 8 of the '050 patent. In its entirety, the claim reads:

A quick connect fitting for an electrical junction box comprising:

a hollow electrical connector through which an electrical conductor may be inserted having a leading end thereof for insertion in a hole in an electrical junction box;

a circular spring metal adaptor surrounding said leading end of said electrical connector which has a leading end, a trailing end, and an intermediate body;

at least two outwardly sprung members carried by said metal adaptor near said trailing end of said adaptor which engage the side walls of the hole in the junction box into which said adaptor is inserted;

at least two spring locking members carried by said metal adaptor that spring inward to a retracted position to permit said adaptor and locking members to be inserted in a hole in an electrical junction box and spring outward to lock said electrical connector from being withdrawn through the hole; and

an arrangement on said connector for limiting the distance said connector can be inserted into the hole in the junction box.

(Doc. 384, Ex. A col. 10.) On February 25, 2008, the court issued a Markman order and held that (1) "`Circular spring metal adaptor' means `an adaptor made of spring metal that has circular cross sections'"; and (2) "`Outwardly sprung members carried by said metal adaptor near said trailing end of said adaptor' means `members bent outward at an angle relative to the normal plane of the metal adaptor that are part of said adaptor with a portion of each member located near said trailing end of said adaptor.'" (Doc. 376.)

Subsequent to the court's claim construction, the infringement dispute focused upon claim 8's limitation that the quick-connect fitting possess "at least two outwardly sprung members" attached to its spring metal adaptor. Indeed, Bridgeport stipulated that its Whipper-Snap products contained each limitation of claim 8 except the "outwardly sprung members" limitation. (See Doc. 383 ¶ 5.) Each of Bridgeport's Whipper-Snap connectors features at least four tensioning tangs attached to the leading end of the adaptor. Arlington attempted to prove that at least two of these tangs were "outwardly sprung," or, more specifically, that they were "bent outward at an angle relative to the normal plane of the adaptor." In support of its motion for summary judgment, Arlington's infringement expert, Christopher Rahn ("Rahn"), proffered measurements that he performed on 60 individual 38ASP connectors. According to Rahn, the average diameter between the trailing end of the tensioning tangs was greater than the diameter across the connector's anchoring tabs. Therefore, Rahn concluded that the 38ASP's tensioning tangs "have a larger diameter at the trailing end than the main body of the adaptor, and are therefore bent away from the main body." (Doc. 471 at 16.) Arlington went on to argue that because each of the Whipper-Snap products shared an identical design, Rahn's findings were not limited to the 38ASP, but instead held for each of the fifteen accused products. Bridgeport defeated summary judgment in part by asserting that the "connector bodies and adaptors for these various models the accused products are manufactured using different dies, and there is no evidence that the dimensions of all the models are identical." (See id. at 19-20.)

On September 14, 2009, this matter proceeded to a jury trial on a total of thirty Whipper-Snap connector models.³ Arlington alleged that the accused products literally infringed the '050 patent, and also infringed under the doctrine of equivalents. In addition, Arlington levied a breach of contract claim, contending that the...