The world’s largest manufacturer of off-highway wheels turned to Finnegan to reverse a preliminary injunction

Titan Wheel faced a preliminary injunction that had far-reaching and negative implications to its core business. Patent owner Vehicular Technologies Corporation prevailed at the district court and sought to prohibit Titan from selling its EZ locker automatic locking differentials for automotive vehicles, as well as a recall of all differentials in its distributors’ possession. Finnegan obtained an emergency stay of the injunction while the appeal was pending at the Federal Circuit and then, on the merits, successfully argued that the district court improperly granted the preliminary injunction based on an incorrect infringement analysis under the doctrine of equivalents. In a 2-1 decision, the Federal Circuit concluded that the accused EZ locker differentials were not likely to infringe the patent claims under a correct understanding of the functions described in the patent-in-suit.