DUSA Pharmaceuticals, Inc. v. Biofrontera Inc. et al. (18-cv-10568).

Judge Stearns issued a claim construction order construing terms of the asserted patents, and addressed indefiniteness arguments urged by Biofrontera. The technology is directed to treating cancer by administering photoactive agents that accumulate in the tissue to be treated, and then exposing the tissue to visible light that causes the photoactive agent to chemically or biologically change and attack the target tissue in which it has accumulated. Biofrontera sought to have 201cilluminator 201d construed to require a light source that generally conforms to a contoured surface, asserting that DUSA 2019s specification disavowed flat illuminators by (a) consistently referring to the 201cpresent invention 201d as an illuminator conforming to a contoured surface; (b) including no non-contoured embodiments, and ascribes the improved performance of the claimed invention to the contoured surface of the illuminator; and (c) disparaging flat surface illuminators. Noting that there was no argument that DUSA acted as its own lexicographer, Judge Stearns determined that there was sufficient evidence to the contrary to prevent Biofrontera from meeting the 201cexacting 201d standard for a finding of disavowal. He noted that the specification provided objectives that did not require a contoured shape, and provided ways other than contouring to obtain the desired results.
Judge Stearns also determined that the phrase 201call operation distances 201d was not indefinite. Biofrontera had argued that the specification provided no guidance on this, but Judge Stearns found that reference to a lower and upper limit in the specification set the range of distances with reasonable clarity. He rejected Biofrontera 2019s claim differentiation argument, noting that while a dependent claim specified the range, claim differentiation cannot be used to broaden a claim beyond its correct scope.