US 8695486

Here's a concise summary of US patent 8695486:

US Patent 8695486: Plunger-filter beverage-making machine with a closable pouring opening

• Title: Plunger-filter beverage-making machine with a closable pouring opening
• Assignee: Pi Design AG
• Inventor: Jørgen Bodum
• Filing Date: 2009-05-08
• Issue Date: 2014-04-15
• Abstract: The invention discloses a plunger-filter beverage-making machine with a lid which can be closed by a valve. The beverage-making machine has a vessel (2), a lid (3) and a filter piston (4) which can be vertically displaced in the vessel and has a piston rod (41). The lid (3) contains a pouring opening (37) which can be closed by means of an elongate lever (33) which extends transverse to the piston rod. To this end, the lever is mounted on the lid such that it can pivot about a horizontal axis. The lever has, in the region of its front end, a closure body (36) in order to close the pouring opening and, in the region of its rear end, an operating region (331) in order to pivot the lever by virtue of pressure exerted by a finger of a user.

Plain-Language Overview of Independent Claims:

• Claim 1: This claim describes a beverage-maker, like a French Press. It includes a cylindrical vessel and a filter piston with a rod and a plunger-filter. The lid has two openings: one for the piston rod (a "through opening") and a separate "pouring opening." A spout is located on the lid or vessel. Crucially, an elongated lever is attached to the lid, above the top wall, and pivots horizontally. This lever has a "closure body" at its front to seal the pouring opening and an "actuating surface" at its rear. A user can press this actuating surface to pivot the lever, moving the closure body from a closed position to an open position, allowing liquid to be poured through the spout.
• Claim 5: This claim is similar to Claim 1 but adds a specific feature regarding the piston rod and the lever. In this claim, the elongated lever itself has a "through opening" through which the piston rod extends. This means the piston rod passes through a hole in the lever, rather than the lever being led around the side of the piston rod, as mentioned as an alternative in the patent's description.
• Claim 14: This claim also describes a beverage-maker with a vessel and a lid that has a pouring opening and a spout. It features an elongated lever attached to the lid, pivoting about a horizontal axis. The lever has a closure body at its front to close the pouring opening and an actuating surface at its rear to open it by user pressure. A key distinction in this claim is the explicit statement that the "horizontal axis being arranged between the closure body and the actuating surface of the elongated lever," defining the pivot point's location relative to the other lever components.

Litigation Information:

While a direct search of CAFC 2026 dockets for the specific patent number 8695486 did not return immediate results, the "Legal status" section of the Google Patents page for US8695486B2 indicates that the patent family has been involved in litigation [cite: US8695486B2]. Specifically, there is a "US case filed in Illinois Northern District Court" and a "PTAB case IPR2025-01178 filed (Settlement)" [cite: US8695486B2]. The PTAB case was filed for Inter Partes Review, with Starbucks Corporation and Pacific Marketing International LLC named as opponents, and has been marked as a settlement [cite: US8695486B2]. No information regarding the current status or specific details of the Illinois Northern District Court case within 2026 dockets was found through this search.