On August 16, 2007, the district court issued a claim construction order and construed the term "centrifugal unit" as used in claim 16. The court held, and the parties agreed, that "centrifugal unit" as used in the claim's first line means "the combination of both the vessel and the tubing." Haemonetics Corp. v. Baxter Healthcare Corp., 517 F.Supp.2d 514, 518 (D.Mass. 2007). Nevertheless, the court construed the claim's remaining two references to "centrifugal unit," including the final one in the context of the "height" and "radius" limitations, to mean only the vessel.
The district court reasoned that including the tubing in the context of limitations directed to the centrifugal unit's physical dimensions recited in the body of the claim "would yield an absurdity." 607 F.3d at 780 (quoting Haemonetics Corp. v. Baxter Healthcare Corp. , 517 F. Supp. 2d 514, 519 (D. Mass. 2007) ). We held the court's construction with respect to the body of the claim to be erroneous.
Fenwal is an independent corporation formed upon Baxter's complete divestiture of its transfusion therapies business, which includes the allegedly infringing device. The parties appeared before this Court for a Markman hearing on July 24, 2007, and this Court construed the `983 Patent in a Memorandum and Order entered on August 16, 2007, 517 F.Supp.2d 514. That Order construed the `983 Patent to include, as separate elements: 1) First Drive Units means the assemblage of components responsible for rotating the tubes at an angular rate of and does not include the tubes or vessel.