The Supreme Court of the United States rejected the reexamination petition of battery giant Energizer and its subsidiary Eveready over Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) decision in invalidating its patent for zero-mercury-added alkaline batteries, upholding the ruling of the International Trade Commission (ITC) which decided the invality of patent right of Energizer's zero-mercury-added alkaline batteries , and terminated the 337 investigation.

On April 28, 2003, Energizer Holdings, Inc. claimed that nine Chinese manufacturers of zero-mercury-added alkaline batteries, and two dozens of American and Japanese companies, infringed its U.S. Patent No. 5,464,709 patent (the "709 patent").  Energizer then filed a complaint with the International Trade Commission (ITC) in the U.S. to conduct a Section 337 investigation on their claims. 

In October 2004, ITC terminated the investigation by declaring the patent invalid in its final determination. After that, Energizer appealed 4 times in total. In October 2008, CAFC made its final decision, declaring the 709 patent invalid. Energizer then appealed again to the Supreme Court of the Unite States. On March 23, 2009, the Supreme Court denied the petition and upheld the CAFC decision.

(China IP News)