Unnamed Inventor, Invalid Patent

Fortress Iron sued Digger Specialties for patent infringement over a vertical cable railing system. DSI identified omitted Chinese co-inventors Lin and Huang who contributed solutions during prototype development. Fortress named only its own employees as inventors. The Federal Circuit affirmed invalidity, ruling that omitted co-inventor Huang was a "party concerned" requiring notice under 35 U.S.C. § 256(b). Since Fortress couldn't locate Huang for inventorship correction, the patent remained invalid for failure to name all inventors.