Greenbrier Railcars Don’t Infringe Patents, Federal Circuit Says

The Federal Circuit sided with freight car maker Greenbrier Cos. and affirmed a lower court’s ruling that its gondola-style railcar products don’t infringe patents owned by National Steel Car Ltd.

The “side post gussets” on Greenbrier’s gondola cars didn’t match the “floor panel extensions” as that term from two NSC patents was interpreted, the three-judge panel ruled in an opinion issued Wednesday by the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

NSC sued Greenbrier in a federal court in Waco, Texas, for infringement in 2019 and the suit was later transferred to Oregon, where Greenbrier has its headquarters. A ...