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No Infringement Where Structural Difference Renders Claimed Function Impossible

Client Alert | 1 min read | 04.17.06

Despite affirming the district court's summary judgment of non-infringement in Semitool, Inc. v. Dynamic Micro Systems Semiconductor Equipment GmbH, (“DMS”) (No. 05-1299; April 6, 2006), the Federal Circuit finds the district court's claim construction flawed. The primary claim at issue relates to a semiconductor wafer carrier cleaning system and is directed to a process using “a processing chamber within the processing vessel” and furthermore “supplying drying gas to the processing chamber.” The district court granted a motion for summary judgment of non-infringement in favor of DMS, but concluded that it did not need to reach the issue of whether a “condensing unit” of the allegedly-infringing product was part of the process chamber or a separate unit. Instead, the district court focused on the function of whether the condenser supplied gas to the processing chamber. In contrast, the Federal Circuit reasons that, since the condenser of the allegedly-infringing product resides inside the processing chamber, it cannot supply the recited drying gas. Thus, the determinative claim language was the recited structure and not the function.

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Client Alert | 8 min read | 10.01.25

BIS Issues “Affiliates Rule” to Dramatically Expand Applicability of Entity and Military End-User Lists

On September 29, 2025, the U.S. Department of Commerce Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) announced a sweeping Interim Final Rule (IFR), (the “Affiliates Rule”) expanding which entities qualify as Entity List or Military End-User entities, thereby subjecting those entities to elevated export control restrictions under the Export Administration Regulations (EAR). U.S. export restrictions applicable to entities on the Entity List, Military End-User (MEU) List, and Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons (SDN List) now apply to foreign affiliates that are, in the aggregate, owned 50% or more by one or more of the aforementioned entities. An entity that becomes subject to these restrictions because of its ownership structure will be subject to the most restrictive controls that attach to any of its parent entities, regardless of ownership stakes....