Deere’s Crop Harvester Patent Invalidity Win Wiped Out on Appeal

The Federal Circuit reversed an invalidity ruling in a patent owner’s dispute with Deere & Co. over methods to control a crop harvester’s height, ruling the district court erred in its analysis.

The lower court wrongly disregarded structure that performed the “control means” function in claim 12 of US Patent No. 6,202,395, according to an opinion issued Wednesday by the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

The Iowa district court disregarded structure because it didn’t perform the unclaimed function of controlling “lateral position” of the header of a crop harvester, Judge Jimmie Reyna’s opinion said.

“A disclosure ...