Ciena Corp. v. Corvis Corp. (334 F. Supp. 2d 598, 2004)

OPINION

FARNAN, District Judge.

This action was brought by CIENA Corporation and CIENA Properties, Inc. (collectively, “CIENA”) against Corvis Corporation (“Corvis”) for infringement of United States Patent Nos. 5,938,309 (the “ ’309 patent”); 5,784,184 (the “ 184 patent”); 5,504,609 (the “’609 patent”) and 5,557,439 (the “ ’439 patent”). This action was tried before three different juries with one jury hearing the issue of infringement, one jury hearing the issue of validity and a third jury hearing a retrial of CIENA’s claim of infringement of the ’609 Patent. The first jury returned a verdict of infringement of the ’309 Patent and non-infringement of the ’439 and 184 Patents. The first jury could not reach a decision with respect to the ’609 patent necessitating a retrial before a third jury. The second jury considering the issues of validity found that the ’439 and ’309 patents were valid. On retrial of CIENA’s claims for infringement of the ’609 patent, the third jury returned a verdict of infringement.

In addition to the defense of invalidity tried before the second jury, Corvis also asserted the defense of the reverse doctrine of equivalents during the first and third infringement trials. Over Corvis’ objection, the Court determined that this defense should be removed from the jury’s consideration and tried before the Court. This Opinion constitutes the Court’s findings of fact and conclusions of law regarding the application of the reverse doctrine of equivalents.

BACKGROUND

I. The Technology Generally

The patents-in-suit generally relate to optical communications systems which carry plural optical signals of different wavelengths simultaneously. ’609 patent, col. 1, II. 5-8; ’309 patent, col. 1, 11. 5-10. One of the difficulties with optical communication systems is that they are configured to carry an optical channel of only a single wavelength over one or more optical waveguides. ’609 patent, col. 1, 11. 22-24; ’309 patent, col. 1, 11. 24-26. Wavelength division multiplexing (“WDM”) is an approach for increasing the capacity of the existing fiber optic network without having to lay additional fiber optic cables which are very expensive. ’609 patent, col. 1, 11. 38-42; ’309 patent, col. 1, 11. 42-44. In a WDM system, plural optical signal channels are carried over a single waveguide with each channel being assigned a particular wavelength. ’609 patent, col. 1, 11. 42-44; ’309 patent, col. 1, 11. 4