IPEC grants Cloud Cycle’s declaration of non-infringement

Cloud Cycle has landed a win in its dispute with Verifi over slump-monitoring technology at the IPEC.

Verifi’s EP 1 720 689 protects a “method and system for calculating and reporting slump in delivery vehicles”. The exclusive licensee is US company GCP Applied Technologies, a provider of specialty construction chemicals and building materials and a brand of Saint Gobain.

The patent relates to concrete delivered to a construction site in a drum mixer truck. The chemical reaction which leads the concrete to set and then harden begins as soon as water is added. Therefore, the concrete must be delivered from the batching plant to the construction site and poured within a short period after the addition of water. The accepted industry measure of the consistency of concrete before it sets is known as slump. Verifi submitted that its patent promised increased accuracy in terms of sensing and determining slump.

Verifi claims infringement

Patent owner Verifi accuses Cloud Cycle of infringing a claim of EP 689 with its system for monitoring the properties of concrete in a concrete mixing truck. Initially, the original action began as a declaration of non-infringement launched by Cloud Cycle, but the court then treated it as a conventional infringement action. In its allegation of infringement, Verifi relied on infringement under the doctrine of equivalents, as explained by the Supreme Court in Actavis v Eli Lilly.

However, the IPEC came to the conclusion that Cloud Cycle had not infringed under the doctrine of equivalents (case ID: IP-2023-000104f).

The Intellectual Property Enterprise Court is a specialist subdivision within the business and property courts of the UK High Court. It hears patent disputes of small and medium-sized companies, which observers often consider to be of minor economic importance. Experts estimate that typically 15% to 20% of IPEC cases concern patents, while the rest involve soft IP such as trademarks, design or copyright.

Alex Wilson

While presiding IPEC judge Richard Hacon heard the case management conference in March, Douglas Campbell in the role of recorder recently delivered the judgment. He is a KC at Three New Square and became deputy high court judge in 2015. He mainly sits in the IPEC.

Potter Clarkson for Cloud Cycle

Cloud Cycle relied on IP firm Potter Clarkson. According to JUVE Patent information, Nottingham-based partner and litigator Richard Roberts took the lead. The company also instructed Richard Davis and Becky Knott from Hogarth chambers as barristers.

Powell Gilbert represented Verifi and GCP Applied Technologies. A team around litigation partner Alex Wilson also represents Saint Gobain in other disputes, for example against 3M over 3D scan data. In addition, James Abrahams KC and Edmund Eustace from 8 New Square assisted.