United States District Court, D. Colorado
ORDER
Scott
T. Varholak United States Magistrate Judge.
This
matter is before the Court on Plaintiff's Partial Motion
for Summary Judgment of Infringement (the
“Motion”) [#118]. The parties have consented to
proceed before the undersigned United States Magistrate Judge
for all proceedings, including entry of a final judgment.
[##20, 34] This Court has carefully considered the Motion and
related briefing, the entire case file, and the applicable
case law, and has determined that oral argument would not
materially assist in the disposition of the instant Motion.
For the following reasons, the Court DENIES
the Motion.
I.
BACKGROUND
According
to the Amended Complaint, [1] Frac Shack, Inc. (“Frac
Shack”) “provides modular solutions for fuel
delivery that reduce significantly the health, safety and
environmental risks associated with fueling operations during
hydraulic fracturing.” [#30 at ¶ 10] Frac Shack is
the owner of United States Patent No. 9, 346, 662 (the
“‘662 Patent”), which was issued on May 24,
2016. [Id. at ¶ 9] The Preamble describes the
‘662 Patent as “[a] fuel delivery system for fuel
delivery to multiple pieces of equipment at a work
site.” [#1-1 at 10] The Summary of the ‘662
Patent states that “[a] fuel delivery system and method
is presented for reducing the likelihood that a fuel tank of
equipment at a well site during fracturing of a well will run
out of fuel.” [Id. at 7]
Frac
Shack alleges that Defendant Atlas Oil Company
(“Atlas”) has been using modular solutions for
refueling during hydraulic fracturing operations in the
United States. [#30 at ¶ 12] Frac Shack alleges that one
of these solutions, the Atlas Fuel Automation Station
(“FAS”), infringes Claims 1-4 and 7-12 of the
‘662 Patent. [Id. at ¶¶ 12-13]
Defendant Fuel Automation Station, LLC (“Fuel
Automation”) leases the Atlas FAS to Atlas.
[Id. at ¶ 12]
In
three prior Orders, this Court construed certain terms of the
‘662 Patent. [##92, 99, 124] At issue in the instant
Motion is Claim One of the ‘662 Patent. Claim One
claims as follows:
A fuel delivery system for fuel delivery to multiple pieces
of equipment at a work site, comprising:
a fuel source comprising one or more manifolds, the one or
more manifolds being connectable to a fuel supply;
each manifold of the one or more manifolds having multiple
fuel outlets, each fuel outlet of the multiple fuel outlets
having a hose connection;
plural hoses, each hose having a first end and a second end
and being connected at the first end of the hose to a
corresponding one of the multiple fuel outlets having a fuel
delivery connection at the second end of the hose for
securing the second end of the hose to a corresponding one of
the multiple pieces of equipment to which fuel is to be
delivered;
an electrically operable valve responsive to electronic
control signals on each fuel outlet;
a sensor associated with each combination of fuel outlet,
hose and fuel delivery connection, each sensor being
configured to detect a low fuel condition associated with
each of the multiple pieces of equipment to which fuel is to
be delivered;
a controller responsive to signals supplied from each sensor
through respective communication channels, the controller
being configured to provide control signals to open and close
the respective electrically operable valves; and
in which the controller is responsive to the detection of the
low fuel condition, to display an indication of the low fuel
condition or to open at least one of the electrically
operable valves for each of the multiple pieces of ...