Simpson Strong-Tie Company, Inc v. Oz-Post International, LLC
Opinion
Trial Court Opinion
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 6 SIMPSON STRONG-TIE COMPANY, Case No. 3:18-cv-01188-WHO
INC,
8 Plaintiff, SECOND CLAIM CONSTRUCTION ORDER v. Re: Dkt. No. 151
OZ-POST INTERNATIONAL, LLC,
11 Defendant.
12 Before me is a second round of disputes over claim terms from two patents that were recently added to this declaratory judgment action brought by Simpson Strong-Tie Company, Inc. (“Simpson”) against patent owner Oz-Post International LLC dba OZCO Building Products (“OZCO”). My constructions of the parties’ disputed terms follow. BACKGROUND Simpson and OZCO are competitor companies that design and manufacture connectors and anchors for the construction industry. Until March of this year, this case involved assertions of infringement, noninfringement, and invalidity related to two patents assigned to OZCO: U.S. Patent No. 9,957,998 (“the ’998 Patent”) and U.S. Design Patent No. D798,701 (“the ’701 Patent”). The…