The patent
13 The original complete specification was filed on 10 November 2003 and had a priority date of 12 November 2002. It named Anne Dallison and Shaun Harrison as the inventors and, when granted on 20 March 2008, named Reckitt UK as patentee. Reckitt made amendments to the originally filed complete specification in 2006, in circumstances that I will explain later in these reasons. I will refer in these reasons to the complete specification as the amended version that was in the patent as granted.
14 The complete specification began by naming the field of the invention as relating to bottle neck liners, bottles, liquid dispensing apparatus and methods of dispensing liquids (page 1, lines 6-8). The background described the usual desirability of accurately measuring the amount of liquid that is dispensed from many bottles, such as medicine bottles. It referred to the use of terms such as teaspoonfuls, tablespoonfuls, drops or specified millilitres to identify how much a person should pour from a bottle into a measuring receptacle. And, where a precise amount of a medicine for dispensing had to be measured, the complete specification stated that normally one used an accurate subsidiary measuring device, such as a graduated syringe or pipette (page 1, lines 11-22).
15 The complete specification referred to an internationally published patent, that was not in evidence, noting that it described a syringe assembly comprising an elongated tubular barrel with an opening for discharge and an elongated hollow tubular plunger member that had a closed spherical tip. The tip of that assembly would sit in an insert that was fitted into the neck of a container (page 1, lines 24-29).
16 The specification described the way in which a syringe can be inserted freely through the bottle neck and into conventional medicine bottles, and then dipped into the liquid in the bottle. It noted the difficulty in such situations of a user seeing the graduations on the syringe body in order to measure exactly how much liquid had been drawn up into the syringe, with the frequent consequence that the user would have to return the syringe to the bottle to draw out more or return some liquid so as to obtain the desired amount (page 1a, line 1 to page 2, line 7). It stated that coloured glass bottles, including those commonly used to protect photosensitive medicinal contents, also make it harder to see how much liquid has been drawn into a syringe (page 2, lines 12-26). In addition, the specification stated that the insertion of the syringe into the liquid in the bottle could contaminate the medicine with micro-organisms present on the exposed surface of the syringe (page 2, lines 8-11), and could leave some liquid on the surface of the syringe that could drip onto the user or any surface creating mess (page 2, line 27 - page 3, line 2).
17 The complete specification then suggested a number of advantages that might flow from a liquid dispensing apparatus that could allow a syringe to withdraw liquid from a bottle where the graduations on the syringe were visible, there was a minimum surface area in which the syringe could come into contact with the liquid contents of the bottle (thus reducing contamination and dripping or spillage risks) and there was also an opportunity to pour the liquid from the bottle if the user did not want to employ the syringe (page 3, lines 4-22). The specification stated that an aim of the preferred embodiments of the invention was to overcome or mitigate the problems of the prior art, whether or not those problems were expressly disclosed in the patent (page 3, lines 24-26).
18 The summary of the invention set out a consistory clause, describing a first aspect of the invention as comprising an apparatus with the three elements: a bottle, a bottle neck liner and a flat-nosed syringe (page 3 line 30 - page 4 line 21).
19 Conceptually, the clause described the invention as being intended to work as follows. The liner is inserted into the top of the bottle. It is so designed that, like a cork, its outer perpendicular side, or sleeve, fits tightly against the inner side of the bottle neck. The liner has a flange around its top so as to fit against the rim of the bottle's top as a further means of preventing the liquid contents escaping between the inside of the bottle and the outside of the liner. In addition, the liner has a hollow circular core that is created by an inner second perpendicular sleeve. That sleeve is held in place by a circular web of plastic material at the top that extends inwards, and at the foot by a horizontal "inward step" connected to the lower part of the inner sleeve. The inward step has a hole in it that is the same diameter as the opening at the base of the flat-nosed syringe. The intention of this design is that when the syringe is inserted into the liner it will fit tightly, so that the only way in which liquid can escape from the bottle is when the plunger in the syringe is drawn up and that action draws the liquid into the newly created void in the syringe. Alternatively, if the user does not want to use the syringe, the hole in the inward step allows him or her to pour the liquid into whatever receptacle the user wishes.
20 I have given this broad and untechnical description to convey the general idea of the invention and not as a finding as to what it is. The consistory clause set out what was later reflected in claim 1 together with the following definitions (page 3, line 30 - page 5, line 7):
By "syringe" we mean a syringe comprising a hollow syringe barrel in which is located, or arranged to be located, a reciprocating plunger, the syringe barrel having a dispensing aperture, through which a liquid may be drawn, then discharged.
By "flat-nosed syringe" we mean a syringe whose barrel ends in a generally flat distal end which is perpendicular to the barrel axis, and in which the dispensing aperture is formed. Preferably there is no part of the distal end which extends beyond the bore.
By "sealingly" we mean that under conditions of normal use liquid cannot flow or leak between the respective parts, that is, between the bottle neck and the bottle neck liner, and between the bore and a syringe barrel. (emphasis added)
21 Figures 4, 5 and 6 in the patent are reproduced below and depict, respectively, a flat-nosed syringe (item 36 signifying the hole through which liquid is drawn), the syringe inserted into the liner and a cross-sectional view of such an insertion:
22 The specification then discussed over the next eight pages a number of preferred embodiments of the invention. It contemplated that, in the ordinary course, the liner would be formed industrially using injection moulding (e.g. page 5, lines 29-30). The specification said that in some embodiments the through bore in the liner, i.e. the hole into which the syringe fitted, might have a slight taper or be slightly undersized to ensure a tight fit relative to the syringe barrel (page 6, lines 3-5, 10-14). The specification stated (page 6, lines 15-17):
The flared portion provides a lead-in, into the through bore, in order to aid engagement of the syringe barrel into the through bore.
23 The inward step also prevented the syringe penetrating beyond it deeper into the bottle (page 6, lines 31-32) and in that way, the patent taught that the barrel so inserted "is sealingly received within the sleeve and the inward step limits its movement, on insertion" (page 7, lines 1-3).
24 The specification stated that a preferable embodiment of the liner had a taper on its outer surface that would act as a lead in to facilitate fitting of the liner into the bottle neck during manufacture. It also stated that the cylindrical body (i.e. the outer surface of the liner), preferably would be oversized relative to the bottle neck so as to achieve an interference fit, in order to prevent the liner and bottle neck separating when in use. The specification continued (page 8, lines 17-29):
Thus, the force required to withdraw the liner from the bottle neck preferably exceeds the force required to withdraw a syringe barrel from the sleeve into which it is inserted. (emphasis added)
25 Importantly, for the purposes of construing the "omnibus" claim 9, the next section of the complete specification, that extended over five pages, was headed "Brief Description of the Drawings" (page 13, line 23). That section commenced (page 13, lines 25-29):
In order to better understand the various aspects of the invention, and to show embodiments of [scil: how] the same may be put into effect, the invention will now be described by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:
Figure 1 illustrates a side elevational view of a preferred embodiment of a bottle neck liner of the first aspect of the invention;
Figure 2 illustrates a side sectional view of the bottle neck liner of Figure 1;
Figure 3 illustrates the bottle neck liner of Figures 1 and 2 inserted into the bottle neck of a bottle;
Figure 4 illustrates a flat-nosed syringe, arranged in use to be inserted into the bottle neck liner of Figures 1 and 2;
Figure 5 illustrates the syringe of Figure 4 inserted into the bottle of Figure 3; and
Figure 6 illustrates a side sectional view of the syringe, bottle neck liner and bottle taken through the line AA of Figure 5.
Figures 1, 2 and 3 were as follows:
26 The specification described item 10 on figure 1 as an outer taper or chamfer (page 14, line 24), which had the lead in function described above. The specification stated (page 14, line 30 - page 15, line 2):
The sleeve 4 has a circularly cylindrical through bore 16. The sleeve 4 includes at the lower end thereof an inward step 18. This is an annular formation protruding inwardly from the interior surface of the sleeve 4 at its lower end, and terminating in a circular aperture 17. At its upper end the sleeve is inwardly bevelled at 20. (emphasis added)
27 The inventors explained that the liner is a one piece injection moulding from a resilient plastics material (page 15, lines 9-11) and that its outer body should deform inwardly so as to provide "a sealing fit between outer body 8 and the bottle neck 24", preventing any leakage from between the bottle's inner surface and the liner's outer surface (p 15, lines 13-32). And the dimensions of the flange at the top of the liner were intended to be substantially identical to those of the top surface of the bottle and to permit a screw cap to be fitted over both "in order to sealingly close the bottle neck 24, for transportation, sale and storage" (page 16, lines 1-9).
28 Next, the specification continued by explaining figure 4 as illustrating (page 16, lines 11-19):
… a flat-nosed syringe 30 for use in the present invention. The flat-nosed syringe 30 includes a hollow circularly cylindrical syringe barrel 32 having a distal end region 33 to be received in the liner, and terminating in a perpendicular, circular face at its distal end 34, formed with a centrally located dispensing aperture 36. The syringe 30 also includes a plunger 38 arranged to move under reciprocal motion within the syringe barrel 32. (emphasis added)
29 In explaining figure 6, the specification stated (page 16, line 25 - page 17, line 11):
As the distal end region 40 of the barrel is inserted into the bottle neck liner 2, it pushes slightly against the sleeve 4, the cross-section of the bore 16 of the latter being slightly smaller than the cross-section of the barrel. Good sealing against the passage of liquid between the barrel and the sleeve is thereby provided. The insertion continues until the distal end 34 of the syringe barrel 32 abuts the inward step 10 of the sleeve 6 (see Figure 6). In this position, the distal end region of the syringe barrel is a tight sealing fit within the sleeve inside the bottle neck 24, but the rest of the syringe barrel - the larger part - is not; it stands outside the bottle. Thus, graduations on the syringe barrel 32 can still be seen by a user. The seals between the liner 2 and the bottle neck 24, and the syringe barrel 32 and the sleeve 4, prevent leakage of liquid between such parts if the bottle is tilted or inverted. The dispensing aperture 36 of the syringe barrel 32 is located centrally and contiguously with the opening within the inward step 10 of the sleeve 4. (emphasis added)