Safety Razor Decision Nicks Energizer Holdings

Over a vigorous dissent, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit held that the district court erred in construing the scope of the claim at issue. The Gillette Company v. Energizer Holdings, Inc., Case No. 04-1220 (Fed. Cir. Apr. 29, 2005) (Rader, J.; Archer, J. dissenting).

The Gillette Company brought suit against Energizer alleging that Energizer’s QUATTRO®, a four-bladed wet-shave safety razor, infringed certain of its patent claims. The district court denied Gillette’s motion for a preliminary injunction because it concluded that the terms "first," "second" and "third" in the only independent claim of the Gillette patent, limited the scope of that claim to a razor having three blades. Gillette appealed.