This episode covers an opinion from the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit regarding a patent infringement case between Smartrend Manufacturing Group (SMG), Inc., and Opti-Luxx Inc. This judicial decision addresses two separate patents related to illuminated school bus signs, a design patent (D930) and a utility patent (’491). For the D930 patent, the appellate court vacates the infringement judgment and orders a new trial because the lower court incorrectly construed the patent term “transparency,” finding it erroneously synonymous with "translucent." Regarding the ’491 patent, the court reverses the denial of judgment as a matter of law (JMOL) for Opti-Luxx, concluding that no reasonable jury could find infringement under the doctrine of equivalents because the accused product did not perform all the functions of the patented “frame” as described in the specification. As a result of these findings, the permanent injunction previously issued against Opti-Luxx is vacated.

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