In March, the Supreme Court of the United States rejected the petition of Energizer Holdings, Inc. (hereafter referred to as ENR) and its subsidiary Eveready Battery Company, Inc., in which ENR’s patent for zero-mercury-added alkaline batteries was ruled invalid by Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC). Consequently the decision of the International Trade Commission (ITC) was maintained and the 337 investigation was terminated.
The case was originally brought to ITC under 337 in 2003 by ENR claiming that some Chinese US and Japanese manufacturers infringed its U.S. Patent No. 5,464,709 patent (the "709 patent").of zero-mercury-added alkaline batteries. In 2004, ITC terminated the investigation by declaring the patent invalid in its final determination. After that, ENR appealed 4 times in total. In October 2008, CAFC made its final decision, declaring the 709 patent invalid. ENR then filed a petition to the Supreme Court of the Unite States. the Supreme Court denied the petition and upheld the CAFC decision.
