The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC), on May 2, 2023, reversed the Delaware District Court's decision in HIP, Inc. v. Hormel Foods Corp., that David Howard of Unitherm should be added as a joint inventor on US 9,980,498, a patent owned by Hormel and directed to methods of precooking bacon and meat pieces.
United StatesIntellectual Property
The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC), on May 2,
2023, reversed the Delaware District Court's decision in
HIP, Inc. v. Hormel Foods Corp., that David Howard of
Unitherm should be added as a joint inventor on US 9,980,498
(herein, the '498 patent), a patent owned by Hormel and
directed to methods of precooking bacon and meat pieces. The
decision on appeal considered whether Howard contributed to the
conception of the invention and whether the determination of his
joint inventorship should be upheld.
In 2005, Hormel and Van Doorn of Unitherm entered into a joint
agreement to develop an oven to be used in a two-step cooking
process. During this agreement, two different ovens were utilized
for testing. One oven was an infrared oven and the other was a more
conventional spiral oven. Howard claimed during these initial
meetings that he disclosed the infrared preheating concept at issue
on appeal. In 2008, Hormel conducted additional testing using
Unitherm's
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