Summary Judgment Shot Down In Rifle Patent Lawsuit

In a recent patent case concerning hunting rifles, Judge McCafferty in the District of New Hampshire granted the defendant's motion for summary judgment with respect to literal infringement of a patent on a rifle handguard, but denied the motion with respect to infringement under the doctrine of equivalents. The case arose when the plaintiff, Davies Innovations, Inc., the owner of a U.S. patent that discloses a particular type of rifle handguard, brought separate patent infringement lawsuits against defendants SIG Sauer, Inc. and Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. ("Ruger"). Ruger moved for summary judgment of non-infringement.

Each claim of the patent-in-suit required a rifle having a handguard with an open forward end to permit access to certain components of the rifle's operating system. Ruger moved for summary judgment, arguing that it does not infringe because its rifles do not have a handguard with, "the forward end being open to permit access to the barrel coupling