Lockheed Martin Corp. v. Space Systems/Loral

ORDER GRANTING DEFENDANT’S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT OF NON-INFRINGEMENT OF U.S. PATENT NO. 4,084,772

On February 25, 2000, the Court heard argument on defendant’s motion for summary judgment of non-infringement of U.S. Patent No. 4,084,772 . Having considered the arguments of counsel and the papers submitted, and for the reasons set out below, the Court hereby GRANTS defendant’s motion for summary judgment.

BACKGROUND

Plaintiff Lockheed Martin Corporation (“Lockheed”) alleges infringement of United States Patent No. 4,084,772 (the “ ’772 patent”), entitled “Roll/Yaw Body Steering For Momentum Biased Spacecraft,” by defendant Space Systems/Loral, Inc. (“SSL”). The ’772 patent claims a system and method for reducing the pointing errors of a satellite that has entered into an inclined orbit by varying the speed of the satellite’s transverse momentum wheel in a sinusoidal manner. Although Lockheed had alleged that ten different types of SSL satellites infringe the ’772 patent, it now concedes that six of these types do not infringe. Because the four remaining types of satellites all use the same momentum wheel configuration and inclined orbit software, the focus of this action…