Case No. IP-2018-000199

52.Neither expert said that “elongate” is a term of art. As a matter of ordinary English, “elongate” when used as an adjective means that the noun in relation to which it is used – the thing described – is longer than it is wide. The length of the first member of the Patent is clearly the dimension parallel with the axis of the fastener. The width is the dimension perpendicular to the length, being the diameter of the first body if it is cylindrical. According to that simple meaning, integer (2) would require the length of the first member to be greater than its width. Kwikbolt endorsed this construction. 53.Airbus’s expert, Mr Jack, said in his first report that the skilled person would understand from the Figures of the Patent that the first member must be substantially longer than it is wide. In cross-examination he said this meant that it must be three to four times longer than it is wide. The only justification for this was Mr Jack’s impression of the Figures. 54.The Figures of the Patent show an embodiment of the invention. The invention is not what is shown in the Figures but what is claimed in the claims. Moreover, the Figures are diagrammatic, not scale drawings. The skilled person would not expect to glean relative dimensions, even of the embodiment shown, with any accuracy from the Figures. 55.In a letter dated 3 February 2021, 6 days before the trial, Airbus’s solicitors wrote to Kwikbolt’s solicitors proposing a new construction of “elongate”: “… our contention [is] that ‘elongate’ within the meaning of the Patent’s claim 1 means that the shape of the body of the first member is such as to allow that body to be inserted into the holes in the workpieces. That is not the case with the Centrix Free Spin Fasteners (whether or not they are variants including the optional end cap).” 56.This idea was too new for Mr Jack to have said anything about it, but it was repeated in Airbus’s skeleton. In fact, the skeleton developed the argument by saying that the first member sits within both of the holes in the workpieces to provide dowelling support. 57.There is nothing in the specification about a need for dowelling support and elongate is used to characterise the body of both the first and second member. 58.I see no reason for supposing that “elongate” is to be given any specific or narrow meaning. It should be given its ordinary English meaning. Its use in claim 1 means only that the first and second members must each be longer than it is wide.