Weber, Inc. v. Provisur Techs., Inc
Authored by: Jeremy J. Gustrowsky
In a significant decision for patent law, the Federal Circuit has clarified when company operating manuals can count as “printed publications” that qualify as prior art against patents. The dispute centered on patents owned by Provisur Technologies, Inc. (U.S. Patent Nos. 10,639,812 and 10,625,436), which cover high-speed food slicers used in food processing plants. Weber, Inc. challenged these patents at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB), arguing that its own food slicer operating manuals, combined with other patents, made Provisur’s inventions obvious and therefore unpatentable.
The PTAB originally sided with Provisur, finding that Weber’s operating manuals were not “printed publications” because they were only distributed to a limited number of customers and were supposedly subject to confidentiality restrictions. However, the Federal Circuit disagreed, emphasizing that the key question is whether the manuals were accessible to interested members of the public by reasonable diligence—not whether they were available to everyone or subject to copyright notices. The court found that Weber’s manuals were distributed to customers, available upon request, and even shown at trade shows, making them sufficiently accessible to count as prior art.
The court also addressed how patent claims should be interpreted. The PTAB had narrowly construed the term “disposed over” in the patent claims to require precise alignment of certain machine parts. The Federal Circuit rejected this narrow reading, holding that the claim language only required that one apparatus be generally positioned above another, not perfectly aligned. This broader interpretation meant that Weber’s manuals did in fact disclose the required features.
Ultimately, the Federal Circuit reversed the PTAB’s findings on both the public accessibility of the manuals and the interpretation of key claim terms. The case was sent back to the PTAB for further proceedings, with instructions that Weber’s operating manuals do qualify as prior art and that the challenged claim limitations were disclosed. This decision reinforces that company documents provided to customers or available upon reasonable request can be used as prior art in patent disputes, even if they carry copyright notices or are not widely distributed.