Source Vagabond Sys. Ltd. v. Hydrapak, Inc.
Addressing the reasonableness of a pre-filing claim construction
analysis in the context of Rule 11 sanctions, the U.S. Court of
Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed a lower court's award
of Rule 11 sanctions against plaintiff's counsel, finding that
the patent holder based its infringement theory on an untenable
claim construction and inadequate infringement investigation.
Source Vagabond Sys. Ltd. v. Hydrapak, Inc., Case Nos.
13-1270; -1387 (Fed. Cir., June 5, 2014) (Wallach, J.).
Source Vagabond Systems (Source) owns a patent directed to
flexible water reservoirs, such as for storage in a backpack.
According to the patent, a hermetic seal is formed by folding the
top of the flexible reservoir over a rod and positioning a long
sealer clip sideways over the folded reservoir and rod. The
sealer clip has a slot big enough for the folded reservoir but not
the rod. The pertinent claim element requires the slot to
