Appeals Court Invalidates Indefinite Carcass-Treatment Patent

The Federal Circuit invalidated a poultry-treatment patent due to its use of an indefinite term.

The appeals court said claims from a patent owned by Enviro Tech Chemical Services Inc.—US Patent No. 10,912,321—describe an invention of using peracetic acid-containing water as part of a process to chill and sanitize poultry carcasses where the user uses an alkaline source to achieve a pH level “of about 7.6 to about 10.”

Safe Foods Corp., which Enviro Tech accused of patent infringement, challenged the use of the word “about” as indefinite, and the US District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas ...