Cobalt Boats, LLC v. Brunswick Corporation, No. 18-1376 (Fed. Cir. May 31, 2019)

From the Opinion

The passage below is extracted verbatim from the opening of the document. It has not been editorially summarized — consult the full opinion for the court's complete reasoning.

Cobalt Boats, LLC owns U.S. Patent No. 8,375,880 (the ’880 patent), which relates to a swim step —a small plat- form attached to the stern of a boat that makes it easier to get in and out of the wat er. Brunswick Corporation sells boats with an optional swim step. Cobalt sued Brunswick alleging infringement of the ’880 patent. After trial, the jury found that Brunswick literally infringed claim 4 and that it infringed claims 4 and 5 under the doctrine of equiv- alents. The district court entered judgment in accordance with the verdict. We reverse.