Sandvik Intellectual Property AB v. Kennametal Inc.
Filing
268
MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER ADOPTING SPECIAL MASTER'S REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION 240 on claim construction; denying Sandvik's objections 247 , 249 to the Report and Recommendation, granting 241 Kennametal's Motion to Adopt Report and Recommendation; and denying 199 Sandvik's Motion to Strike. Signed by Judge Terrence F. McVerry on 07/24/2012. (bsc)
IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA
SANDVIK INTELLECTUAL
PROPERTY AB,
Plaintiff,
v.
KENNAMETAL, INC.,
Defendant.
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2: 10-cv-00654
MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER OF COURT
ADOPTING SPECIAL MASTER’S REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION
ON CLAIM CONSTRUCTION
Before the Court is PLAINTIFF’S OBJECTIONS TO REPORT AND
RECOMMENDATION OF SPECIAL MASTER filed by Sandvik Intellectual Property AB
(“SIPAB”) (Document Nos. 247 and 249) and the RESPONSE filed by Kennametal, Inc.
(“Kennametal”) (Document No. 252). Also pending is the MOTION TO ADOPT REPORT
AND RECOMMENDATION OF SPECIAL MASTER AS TO CLAIM CONSTRUCTION filed
by Kennametal (Document No. 241) and the BRIEF IN OPPOSITION filed by SIPAB
(Document No. 253).
Having reviewed the record de novo, and the objections of SIPAB to the Report and
Recommendation of the Special Master, the Court adopts in its entirety the claim construction
recommended by the Special Master in his Report and Recommendation dated February 26,
2012 (Document No. 240).
1
BACKGROUND
A.
The ‘625 Patent
There being no objection to the Special Master’s summary of the patent, the Court adopts
it in whole, and will partially quote it hereafter.
SIPAB (through a related company, Sandvik, Inc.) and Kennametal are both in the
business of manufacturing and selling metal cutting tools. SIPAB owns U.S. Patent No.
5,487,625 (“the ‘625 Patent), entitled “Oxide Coating Cutting Tool.” The ‘625 Patent discloses
cutting tool inserts1 coated with alumina that have a particular microstructure and
crystallographic texture to overcome shortcomings of the prior art. 2 Alumina (A12O3) is a
commonly employed coating material in the coating tool industry. Alumina is deposited onto the
surface of the cutting tool through the process of chemical vapor deposition (“CVD”). Alumina
may crystallize onto the surface in a variety of phases (i.e., polymorphs), each having its own
physical properties (e.g., hardness, density, thermal properties). One of those phases (αalumina) deposits in the form of coarse grains having a size of 1-6 μm depending on the
deposition conditions. The α-alumina will deposit in a thermodynamically stable hexagonal
crystalline structure. It is this phase that is utilized as a coating material for cutting tools in the
preferred embodiments of the ‘625 Patent.
Disposable coated cutting tools, commonly known as “inserts” are used in the metal working
field, and are essential to the automotive, aerospace, die and mold, and general engineering
industries.
1
Metal alloy tools often wear quickly and become unusable due to degradation of their integrity
that occurs during the cutting process. The coating of carbide cutting tools to increase wear
resistance is a well-known strategy that has been employed routinely in the prior art. ‘625
Patent, col. 1, line 52 - col. 2, line 1. However, when coated cutting tools are used to machine
nodular cast iron, the adherent properties of the iron result in rapid removal of the coating from
the cutting edge and little improvement in tool life. ‘625 Patent, col. 1, lines 22-28.
2
2
One manner of assessing the specific orientation and structure of α-alumina crystals
produced on a tool surface by CVD is the measurement of the texture coefficient (“TC”) along a
particular orientation of the crystal. The ‘625 Patent states that the TC for α-alumina may be
calculated using the Harris equation, which is commonly used to calculate TC and is stated
mathematically as:
“n” is the number of X-ray diffraction (“XRD”) peaks found in the X-ray spectrum, “I(hkl)” the
intensity of the individual peaks in the XRD pattern from the test sample, and “Io(hkl)” is the
intensity from standard XRD data for the particular crystalline structure being assessed.
The claims of the ‘625 Patent are directed to coated cutting tool bodies having one or
more refractory layers of which at least one layer is α-alumina. Claim 1, the only independent
claim of the ‘625 Patent, reads:
1. A coated cutting tool body with one or more refractory layers of
which at least one layer is alumina, said alumina layer having a
thickness (d) of 0.5-25 μm and a single phase α-structure with a
grain size (s):
0.5 μm
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