Case No. IP-2018-000199

80.Airbus admits that the Centrix Fastener has a first, second and screw member as claimed in the Patent and as shown in this diagram, which also labels Airbus’s identification of the restriction of integers 1(10) and (11) in the Centrix Fastener. 81.By the time of the trial, the integers of the claim which Airbus alleged were not embodied in the Centrix Fastener were integers 1(2), 1(3), 1(8), 1(17) and 1(18) of claim 1 and claim 16. There were integers of claim 18 corresponding to those of claim 1 which were in dispute but they raised no separate issues. 82.Since there was no consensus about the construction of “removable”, I must also consider integer 1(1). Integer 1(1) - removable 83.The PPD describes the removal of the Centrix Fastener by rotating the screw member in the direction opposite to that of fastening, causing the second member to move downwards within the first member, releasing the pressure of the fingers on the workpiece and then causing them to move radially inwards. The PPD then says: “The device can then be removed through the hole in the tope work surface ahead of disassembly and re-use.” 84.There is nothing there to suggest that removal of the Centrix fastener in its entirety would give rise to any significant damage to either the fastener or to the workpieces. In fact, the ease of removal is within the control of the user, not Centrix. The user can adjust the diameter of the apertures in the workpiece. The Centrix Fastener must inevitably be suitable for removal from workpieces without significant damage to it or the workpieces. Integer 1(1) is satisfied. Integer 1(2) – a first member with an elongate body 85. Airbus’s argument of non-infringement depended on a construction of “elongate” which I have rejected. The first member of the Centrix Fastener is longer than it is wide. Integers 1(3) – a first member with a head at one end 86.I have found that the first member head is that part of the first member which bears against the face of a workpiece. The head must be larger in diameter than the aperture of the workpiece. The following diagrams illustrate the Centrix Fastener: 87.The first member has a head at one end as shown in the diagrams, so this integer is satisfied. Integer 1(8) – a screw head adjacent the first member head88. I have found that on a correct construction of this integer the screw head must adjoin the head end of the first member. It does not – it adjoins the opposite end of the first member. This integer is not satisfied. Integers 1(17) and (18) – in use, a unit of the first, second and screw members is insertable and removable through an aperture of each of the two workpieces 89. The Centrix Fastener embodies these integers on the construction of those integers found above. Integer 16 90. On the construction of integer 1(3) and integer 16 found above, this integer is not embodied in the Centrix Fastener. It is not the first member head which is adapted to receive the tool. Conclusion 91. Because integer 1(8) and its equivalent in claim 18 are not satisfied, the Centrix Fastener falls within none of the claims of the Patent on a normal construction.