Kraft Foods Group Brands LLC v. TC Heartland, LLC, C.A. No. 14-028 - LPS, March 7, 2016

Stark, C. J. Court considers 7 terms from 3 patents in Markman proceedings. A hearing was held on January 5, 2016 and post-hearing letters were sent on January 13 and 19, and although sent without permission from the court, they were considered.

The disputed technology relates to shelf-stable, flavored liquid beverage concentrates and packaging. The court points out that the far preferable practice in such circumstances is to confer with opposing counsel and present a joint request for leave to file an uninvited post-hearing submission. The following terms were construed:

1. “to provide the concentrate with at least about 5 times more acid than     an otherwise identical non-buffered concentrate having the same pH”
2. “selected”  (in "selected to provide")
3. “A pH of about 1.9 to about 2.4”
4. “A pH of less than about 2.4”
5. “about 65 percent water by weight”
6. “up to about [10.0/3.0/10] percent buffer by weight”
7. “A container containing a liquid concentrate and configured for squeezing to dispense a jet of the liquid concentrate”