Certain Nanolaminate Alloy Coated Metal Parts and Products Containing the Same; Inv. No. 337-TA-1431 (Violation)

The Commission reviewed the final ID in its entirety and found no violation of section 337 because Modumetal failed to prove infringement of the asserted claims of the '419 and '613 patents. The investigation was terminated and no exclusion order issued. Parker Hannifin's ToughShield Plus coated parts and the other respondents' products face no exclusion or cease-and-desist remedy. Modumetal won on claim construction of 'noble' and on representativeness of its domestic industry product, but still lost on infringement and the technical prong because its evidence was inadequate. An appeal would likely target the evidentiary findings on the layers, nobility and concentration limitations. The Commission construed 'noble' as 'non-reactive' without limiting it to corrosion resistance and corrosion potential, rejecting the FID's narrowing because no clear disclaimer or lexicography existed and extrinsic evidence cannot override the intrinsic record. Limitation 1[b] was not shown: Modumetal did not prove the accused products have layers of about 5 to 1,000 nm, the STEM-HAADF and EDS evidence was unreliable, and the dark bands were more likely fractures or microstructure features. Limitations 1[c] and 1[f] were not shown: although etching should not have been rejected outright, it could not establish relative nobility because structural differences between bands can also cause different etching results. Limitation 1[g] was not shown: Modumetal did not prove different zinc concentrations in the two alloys because the EDS data was imprecise, the values were integer-rounded, and the statistical analysis was unverified. The Commission found the DI Fastener representative but not practicing the claims, so the technical prong failed. It took no position on the economic prong or invalidity, and the investigation was terminated with no violation.