US 11409894

US patent 11409894, titled "Fuel injection throttle body," was issued on August 9, 2022, from an application filed on January 31, 2020. The current assignee is Holley Performance Products Inc. The inventors are Doug FLYNN, James DRALLE, Amy Gieske, Charles JENCKES, and Corey Spainhoward.

Abstract:
The patent describes a throttle body fuel injection system featuring a throttle body with at least one air intake. It includes a fuel injector connected to the throttle body via a fuel port, and an annular ring attached to the cylindrical inner wall of the air intake. This annular ring contains a primary fuel discharge orifice located adjacent to the fuel port and a number of secondary fuel discharge orifices arranged radially around the annular ring, all configured to spray atomized fuel into the air intake.

Plain-Language Overview of Independent Claims:

• Claim 1: This claim defines a fuel injection throttle body for an internal combustion engine. It comprises an air intake, a fuel port, and an electronic fuel injector that receives fuel from a fuel supply and directs it to the fuel port. A fuel channel is positioned along the inner wall of the air intake, formed either by an annular ring, the inner wall itself, or both. This annular ring, located within the air intake, includes multiple orifices through which pressurized fuel is released to mix with air flowing into the engine. The system also includes a throttle shaft and plate to regulate airflow and an electronic control unit (ECU) to manage fuel delivery from the injector.

• Claim 5: This claim also describes a fuel injection throttle body, specifically noting its configuration to replace a conventional carburetor in an internal combustion engine. It includes an air intake that guides airflow, a fuel port, and an electronic fuel injector supplying fuel to this port. A fuel channel is established by the air intake's inner wall, an annular ring, or a combination of both, with the annular ring situated along the inner wall. This annular ring is equipped with multiple orifices that are in fluid communication with the fuel channel, fuel port, and electronic fuel injector, allowing for the dispersion of fuel into the air intake. The system incorporates an electronic control unit (ECU) to control the electronic fuel injector, and a shaft with a rotatable throttle plate to vary the airflow.

USPTO and CAFC 2026 Dockets:
The patent US11409894B2 is currently active and is scheduled to expire on May 26, 2034.

Regarding litigation, the patent family has an identified case filed in the Tennessee Eastern District Court, case number 1:26-cv-00059. This case is noted as "critical" and is associated with the patent family's litigation data. As of April 26, 2026, there are no specific dockets found for US11409894 in the CAFC for the year 2026, only the aforementioned District Court case.

I'll research the litigation landscape for US patent 11409894 using multiple sources.

Let me dig deeper into the specific case and related litigation.

Let me get more detail on the asserted patents and the IPR tie-in.

Known Litigation Involving US Patent 11409894

Bottom Line

There is one known court proceeding in which this patent family is at issue, and it is recent and active. Critically, I found no CAFC appeal and no other district court case that specifically asserts US11409894. I could not independently confirm from the sources retrieved that US11409894 is expressly named in the complaint's asserted-claim charts, so I flag that uncertainty below rather than overstate it.

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1. Holley Performance Products Inc. v. Aces Fuel Injection, Inc.

Sources:

• RPX Insight: https://litigation.rpxcorp.com/litigation/tnedce-[123355](/patent/123355)-holley-performance-products-v-aces-fuel-injection
• Justia docket browse (E.D. Tenn., NOS 830): https://dockets.justia.com/browse/state-tennessee/court-tnedce/noscat-10/nos-830
• Unified Patents litigation entry (as reflected in the patent record): https://portal.unifiedpatents.com/litigation/Tennessee%20Eastern%20District%20Court/case/1%3A26-cv-00059

⚠️ Important caveat on which patents are asserted

The complaint analysis I retrieved summarizes the asserted claim elements for a "'515 Patent" (independent Claim 9) and a "'083 Patent" (independent Claim 1) — both directed to throttle body EFI assemblies with fuel-component covers, horizontally oriented injectors, and fuel distribution rings. US11409894 was not identified by name in that retrieved complaint summary.

However, US11409894 is strongly tied to this case because:

• IPR2026-00433 — Aces Fuel Injection, Inc. v. Holley Performance Products Inc. was filed on July 23, 2026 and specifically challenges US11409894. A defendant typically petitions for IPR on the very patents asserted against it, so this is strong circumstantial evidence that US11409894 is (or was added as) an asserted patent in 1:26-cv-00059.
• The subject matter of the accused Aces Killshot Fusion EFI System (a throttle body EFI assembly using a fuel distribution ring with multiple apertures) tracks the disclosure of US11409894.

I flag this as an inference, not a confirmed fact — the retrieved sources do not explicitly list US11409894 among the asserted patents. If you need this confirmed, the operative complaint (Dkt. 1) in 1:26-cv-00059 via PACER/PatentCenter would be dispositive.

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2. Related Administrative Challenge (not "litigation" per se, but part of the same dispute)

IPR2026-00433 — Aces Fuel Injection, Inc. v. Holley Performance Products Inc.

• Filed: July 23, 2026
• Patent at issue: US11409894
• Status: Pending (awaiting institution decision)
• This is the PTAB counterpart to the district court action and is covered in the previously generated PTAB section of this analysis; I note it here only because it identifies Aces Fuel Injection, Inc. as the challenger of this patent.

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3. Holley Litigation That Does NOT Involve US11409894 (Do Not Conflate)

These cases appear in Holley-related searches but are not about US11409894 — they concern trademarks, trade dress, and contract disputes over carburetors:

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4. CAFC / Appellate Status

• No CAFC appeal involving US11409894 was found. Because 1:26-cv-00059 was filed on March 6, 2026, and no final judgment is reported, there is nothing appealable yet.
• I could not confirm from PACER directly (a paywalled source) that US11409894 appears on the 1:26-cv-00059 docket; my confirmation is indirect via aggregators (RPX, Justia, Ex Parte/complaint-analysis, Unified Patents).

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Summary

Known litigation: Holley Performance Products Inc. v. Aces Fuel Injection, Inc., 1:26-cv-00059, E.D. Tenn., filed March 6, 2026, status open. US11409894 is the patent challenged in the parallel IPR2026-00433 filed by the same defendant, Aces Fuel Injection, Inc. (filed July 23, 2026) — strong but not source-confirmed evidence that US11409894 is one of the patents asserted in the district court case. No other litigation and no CAFC appeal involving US11409894 is known as of this date.

Proceedings overview

There is one AIA trial proceeding on file for US patent 11409894, which is currently pending. The bottom-line defensive posture for a defendant is that the patent's claims are still being challenged, and the outcome of this IPR could impact future assertions of the patent.

IPR2026-00433 — Aces Fuel Injection, Inc. v. Holley Performance Products Inc.

• Type: Inter Partes Review
• Filed: 2026-07-23
• Status: Pending. This means the petition has been filed and is awaiting a decision on whether the PTAB will institute the review.
• Judge panel: Not yet publicly available.
• Petition grounds: Not yet publicly available, but IPRs typically challenge claims under 35 U.S.C. § 102 (anticipation) and/or § 103 (obviousness) based on prior art.
• Institution decision: Not yet issued. The PTAB generally has a statutory deadline of 6 months from the filing of the Patent Owner's Preliminary Response to decide whether to institute review.
• Final Written Decision: Not yet issued.
• Settlement / termination: Not applicable at this stage.
• Appeal: Not applicable at this stage.
• Defensive value: This proceeding indicates that the patent's validity is currently under challenge. If the IPR is instituted and claims are found unpatentable, it would significantly weaken any assertion of those claims. If institution is denied or claims are upheld, the patent's strength would be reinforced.

Strategic summary

Currently, all claims (1-9) of US11409894 are considered UNTESTED by a completed AIA trial proceeding, as IPR2026-00433 is still pending. No claims have been canceled or sustained by a Final Written Decision from the PTAB.

Regarding estoppel, since no Final Written Decision has been issued, the estoppel provisions of 35 U.S.C. § 315(e)(2) are not yet in effect. If the IPR is instituted and proceeds to a final written decision, Aces Fuel Injection, Inc. (and its privies) would be barred from raising any ground that was raised or reasonably could have been raised in the IPR against the claims in a subsequent district court action or other USPTO proceeding. For a defendant not privy to Aces Fuel Injection, Inc., prior art grounds that are not part of IPR2026-00433 could still be asserted. Recent trends indicate that the Director of the USPTO has been exercising significant discretion in denying institution, particularly for petitions that appear to be a "second bite at the apple" after district court litigation or for those with weak discretionary profiles (e.g., parallel district court cases, repeat challenges, foreign-manufactured accused products). However, factors such as promoting American manufacturing or encouraging small business investment can influence institution decisions.

There is no discernible pattern signal yet, as this is the first IPR filed against this patent.

Recommended next steps

Since IPR2026-00433 is pending, the key upcoming milestone is the institution decision. The PTAB has a statutory deadline of 6 months from the filing of the Patent Owner's Preliminary Response to decide whether to institute the review. Monitoring this decision is critical, as it will determine whether the validity challenge proceeds.

Inventors

• Doug FLYNN (Holley Performance Products Inc.)
• James DRALLE (Holley Performance Products Inc.)
• Amy Gieske (Holley Performance Products Inc.)
• Charles JENCKES (Holley Performance Products Inc.)
• Corey Spainhoward (Holley Performance Products Inc.)

All inventors appear to have been employed by the original assignee, Holley Performance Products Inc., at the time of the earliest priority filing (October 18, 2013), as the initial assignment of assignors' interest to Holley Performance Products, Inc. was executed between January 14-15, 2014. There is no indication of all inventors departing the original assignee within 12 months of filing.

Original assignee

The original assignee named on the issued patent is Holley Performance Products Inc. Holley Performance Products Inc. designs, manufactures, and markets aftermarket automotive performance products, including fuel systems, carburetors, and electronic fuel injection systems, which embody the claims of this patent. The company is currently operating.

Assignment timeline

• 2014-01-14 (executed) / recorded 2020-02-26 — Reel 051937/0280

  • Conveyance: Assignment
  • Assignor: Doug Flynn, James Dralle, Amy Gieske, Charles Jenckes, Corey Spainhoward (inventors)
  • Assignee: Holley Performance Products, Inc.
  • Correspondent: Matthew L. Johnson, Dickinson Wright PLLC, 1825 Eye Street, N.W., Suite 900, Washington, D.C. 20006.
  • Context: Internal transfer of inventorship rights to the original assignee.

• 2021-11-18 (executed) / recorded 2021-11-19 — Reel 058214/0174

  • Conveyance: Security Interest
  • Assignor: Holley Performance Products Inc., MSD LLC, Powerteq LLC, Accel Performance Group LLC, B&M Racing & Performance Products Inc., Drake Automotive Group, LLC
  • Assignee: Wells Fargo Bank, National Association
  • Correspondent: Andrew J. Lee, Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP, 101 Constitution Avenue, N.W., Suite 900, Washington, D.C. 20001.
  • Context: Securitization of assets by Holley Performance Products Inc. and related entities to Wells Fargo Bank.

• 2024-10-31 (executed) / recorded 2025-01-02 — Reel 069813/0457

  • Conveyance: Receiving Party Data Change of Address
  • Assignor: Holley Performance Products, Inc.
  • Assignee: Holley Performance Products, Inc.
  • Correspondent: Not specified in the provided data.
  • Context: Change of address record for Holley Performance Products, Inc. as the receiving party.

Timeline diagram

timeline
    title Ownership of US11409894
    2014 : Inventors assigned to Holley
    2021 : Security interest to Wells Fargo
    2025 : Holley address change
    2026 : Litigation filed

NPE / troll-pattern signals

1. Shell-entity transfer — Not present. The patent has been consistently held by Holley Performance Products Inc., an operating company. The security interest to Wells Fargo is a financing arrangement, not a shell entity transfer.
2. Known asserter in the chain — Not present. Neither Holley Performance Products Inc. nor Wells Fargo Bank, National Association, appear on public NPE lists.
3. Repeat correspondent across the chain — Not present. Matthew L. Johnson of Dickinson Wright PLLC handled the initial assignment, and Andrew J. Lee of Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP handled the security interest. There is no recurrence of a specific correspondent attorney or firm suggestive of an NPE operation.
4. Cascading transfers — Not present. There have been only two substantive transfers: the initial inventor assignment and a security interest, separated by a significant time period.
5. Pre-litigation transfer — Unclear. A litigation case (1:26-cv-00059) was filed in Tennessee Eastern District Court in 2026. The most recent assignment event (Receiving Party Data Change of Address) was recorded on 2025-01-02, which is within 6 months of the 2026 litigation filing. However, this specific event is merely an address change for the existing assignee, not a transfer of ownership, making it an unclear signal.
6. Bankruptcy fire-sale — Not present. There is no indication that Holley Performance Products Inc. has filed for bankruptcy.
7. Privateering — Not present. There is no evidence of Holley Performance Products Inc. transferring the patent to an NPE to assert on its behalf.
8. Defensive aggregator (anti-NPE) — Not present. The patent is held by an operating company and has not been transferred to a defensive aggregator.

Verdict

Operating-company assertion. The patent has been consistently owned by Holley Performance Products Inc., an operating company that manufactures products related to the patent's claims. While litigation has been initiated, there are no strong signals of NPE involvement, as the transfers recorded are consistent with standard business operations (inventor assignment, securitization) rather than shell entity transfers or cascading transfers.

USPTO Assignment Center search page: https://assignmentcenter.uspto.gov/ (Search for patent number 11409894).

I'll verify the key prior-art references against live sources before building the § 102 analysis.

Prior-Art Analysis — US 11,409,894 B2 ("Fuel injection throttle body")

0. Scope, sources, and a flagged contradiction

USPTO record retrieved. The USPTO/Google Patents record for application US 16/778,341 (patent US 11,409,894 B2) is the document supplied in the authoritative full text. Title: Fuel injection throttle body. Inventors: Doug Flynn, James Dralle, Amy Gieske, Charles Jenckes, Corey Spainhoward. Original/current assignee: Holley Performance Products Inc. Filed 2020-01-31; granted 2022-08-09; priority 2013-10-18; adjusted expiration 2034-05-26. No similarly-numbered document was substituted or auto-corrected; all identifiers below are reproduced literally from the record.

Contradiction flag (cross-section consistency). The previously generated PTAB challenges section records IPR 2026-00433, Aces Fuel Injection, Inc. v. Holley Performance Products Inc., as filed 2026-07-23. The current-date instruction for this task is 2026-04-26. An IPR cannot have been filed three months in the future. Either the PTAB filing date or the operative "today" date is wrong; I have not reconciled them and use neither as a premise below. The previously generated Litigation summary (E.D. Tenn. 1:26-cv-00059) is date-consistent and is unaffected.

Caveat on depth. The record lists 144 patent citations (114 in the Google "Citations" rendering) plus non-patent literature. I have the full text of US 11,409,894 B2 but only titles/dates/abstracts/claim excerpts for most cited references. Anticipation calls below are therefore provisional; each Tier-1 candidate requires full-text element-by-element verification against the claims.

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1. Critical date screening (this is where most of the citation list drops out)

US 11,409,894 B2's effective filing date is 2013-10-18 (provisional US 61/892,706), carried through US 14/156,813 (filed 2014-01-16, pre-AIA-to-AIA transition: AIA § 102 applies) and the continuations/divisional chain (US 15/986,571 → US 16/778,341). Therefore only references whose effective date precedes 2013-10-18 can be § 102 prior art.

Applying that filter to the citation list produces an important — and frequently misread — result:

Practical consequence: the overwhelming majority of the 144 citations are either (a) ornamental design patents/registrations, (b) same-family/own-work publications, (c) post-2013 documents, or (d) pre-2013 carburetor-era art cited as background. Only a small subset are viable § 102 references, and only three or four are viable single-reference anticipation candidates for the independent claims.

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2. Tier 1 — Closest single-reference anticipation candidates

These are the references that, on their face, disclose the highest percentage of the claim 1 / claim 5 limitations in a single document. All are pre-priority.

2.1 US 10,094,353 B2 — Throttle body fuel injection system with improved fuel distribution

• Full citation: US 10,094,353 B2, "Throttle body fuel injection system with improved fuel distribution," inventors Richard Kirk Bennett, Douglas David Webber; assignee MSD, LLC (Bowling Green, KY). Appl. US 13/470,121; filed 2012-05-11; priority 2012-05-11; granted 2018-10-09. Pre-grant publication US 2013/0298871 A1, published 2013-11-14.
• Brief description: A single-point TBI system "designed and arranged to easily replace four-barrel carburetors," with a throttle body 102 having four main bores 112, each with a throttle plate 118, side-mounted fuel rails 130, an ECU 132 integrated into the side of the throttle body, and per-bore fuel injectors 104. Each injector feeds a circular fuel distribution ring 140 seated in the bore; the ring is two-piece (insert pressed into an outer housing) with axial grooves interleaved around the insert's circumference joined by a circumferential groove; fuel exits through downward-facing openings 144 at/near the lower end of the ring into the bore. Claim 1 recites: "a throttle body assembly (102) having a bore (112) formed therethrough and including a throttle valve (118) disposed in said bore … a fuel injector (104) mounted to said throttle body assembly; a ring (140) disposed in said bore … and a plurality of openings (144) formed in said lower end of said ring."
• Claim(s) it potentially anticipates:
  • Claim 1 — strongest candidate. Mapping: air intake → bore 112; fuel port → injector mounting/conduit into ring 140; electronic fuel injector disposed in the throttle body → injector 104; fuel channel disposed about the inner wall of the air intake, formed by the annular ring → the circumferential groove/axial-groove channel defined by ring 140 seated in the bore; plurality of orifices in the ring in fluid communication with the channel → openings 144; pressurized fuel forced through port → channel → orifices → expressly recited ("fuel is injectable from said fuel injector into said bore through said plurality of openings"); throttle shaft and plate → throttle plate 118 on its shaft; ECU → ECU 132.
  • Claim 5 — strong candidate: the specification's express statement that the system "is designed and arranged to easily replace four-barrel carburetors" and "is designed to bolt on to any square-bore, four-barrel intake, including the common 4150 and 4160 designs" maps onto claim 5's "configured to replace a carburetor of an internal combustion engine," combined with the ring/orifice/ECU/shuttle-plate elements.
  • Claim 3 — moderate: same carburetor-replacement disclosure.
  • Claim 8 — moderate: the reference describes injectors as devices that "meter and atomize fuel" and fuel discharged into the bore.
  • Claims 2, 6, 7, 9 — not anticipated: openings 144 face toward the bore outlet (axially downward), not recited as "radial or non-radial"; no 20–38° angular spacing disclosed; no fuel-port-to-shaft angle relationship disclosed.
• URL: https://patents.google.com/patent/[US10094353B2](/patent/US10094353B2)/en

2.2 US 9,845,740 B2 — …with improved fuel distribution and idle air control

• Full citation: US 9,845,740 B2; inventors Michael Anthony Wittkopf, Todd Alan Petersen, Richard Kirk Bennett, Douglas David Webber; assignee MSD LLC; appl. US 15/076,094 filed 2016-03-21 as a continuation in the 2012-05-11 family; granted 2017-12-19; priority 2012-05-11. (§ 102(a)(2) art as of the 2012-05-11 effective filing date for commonly disclosed subject matter.)
• Brief description: Same throttle-body architecture plus an idle-air-control passage. Claim 1 recites the throttle body assembly, bore, throttle valve, fuel injector, "a fuel distribution ring disposed in said bore, said ring defining a circumferential groove having upper and lower ends and inner and outer circumferences … to provide circumferential flow of fuel therebetween," and "a plurality of openings formed in said lower end of said fuel distribution ring in fluid communication with said fuel injector." The specification describes injector ring 140, bores 112, throttle plates 118, ECU 132.
• Claim(s) it potentially anticipates: Claims 1, 3, 5, 8 — same mapping as §2.1, and the "circumferential groove … inner and outer circumferences" language is an even closer textual match to the claim 1 limitation "a fuel channel disposed about an inner wall of said air intake … formed by one or both of an annular ring and said inner wall." Claims 2, 6, 7, 9 likewise not anticipated.
• URL: https://patents.google.com/patent/[US9845740B2](/patent/US9845740B2)/en ; https://patents.justia.com/patent/[9845740](/patent/9845740)

2.3 US 9,303,578 B2 — …with improved idle air control

• Full citation: US 9,303,578 B2; Wittkopf et al.; assignee MSD LLC; priority 2012-05-11; granted 2016-04-05. Pre-grant publication US 2013/0298868 A1.
• Brief description: Claim 1 recites a throttle body assembly with a bore and throttle valve, a fuel injector mounted to the throttle body injecting upstream of the throttle valve, an IAC passage with IAC valve, and (claim 2) a controller increasing injected fuel as a function of IAC valve position. Critically, the specification discloses the fuel injection ring: "IAC circuitry 120 includes one or more crossover inlet ports 121 that open between bores 112 below fuel injection ring 140," and injectors 104 feeding the ring/bore.
• Claim(s) it potentially anticipates: Claim 1 — moderate candidate, because the ring/orifice disclosure needed for the "fuel channel + plurality of orifices" limitations is in the specification (which counts for anticipation) rather than the claims. Claim 5 — moderate. Weaker than §2.1/§2.2 because the ring structure is described less specifically.
• URL: https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/3d/62/b4/e7d9c0dafc7c21/US9303578.pdf

Cross-reference to the earlier Obviousness section. That section proposed US 9,845,740 B2 / US 10,094,353 B2 / US 9,303,578 B2 as the primary § 103 reference combined with US 6,837,228 B2 and US 2009/0145406 A1. The § 102 analysis above is stronger than that combination analysis suggests: US 10,094,353 B2 and US 9,845,740 B2 each appear to disclose every limitation of claim 1 (and of claim 5) in a single document, which would render the § 103 combination unnecessary for those two claims. That is not a contradiction in the record — it is an escalation of the same conclusion, and it should be treated as the primary invalidity theory for claims 1, 3, 5 and 8, with § 103 reserved for the dependent claims.

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3. Tier 2 — References that anticipate individual limitations only

These cannot anticipate claims 1 or 5 alone (each is missing at least the throttle body/air intake/throttle plate/ECU combination), but each discloses limitations that are load-bearing in the dependent claims or in the § 103 combination.

3.1 The Holley "fuel injector nozzle adapter" family — anticipates the annular-ring/multi-outlet sub-combination

• Full citations and dates:
  • US 6,837,228 B2, "Fuel injector nozzle adapter," Baasch, Flynn, Rucker, Wilson; assignee Holley Performance Products; appl. 10/286,843 filed 2002-11-04 (CIP of 09/964,779 filed 2001-09-28); granted 2005-01-04.
  • US 2004/0084032 A1 (same family), published 2004-05-06.
  • GB 2409239 A, published 2005-06-22; WO 03/027476 A2, published 2003-04-03.
  • Related: US 6,913,210 B2 (granted 2005-07-05), US 6,901,888 B2 (granted 2005-06-07).
• Brief description: A nozzle/adapter installed between a fuel injector and its receptacle. US 6,837,228 B2 claim 16 recites "a fuel injector passage … a plurality of first auxiliary passages arranged in an annular pattern around the central axis … a first annular ring disposed around the interior cup … a receptacle cup"; claim 1 recites a fuel-injector passage terminating at an injector outlet plus first/second auxiliary passages terminating at first/second outlets, with a diffuser plate proximal to the outlets. Claim 13 recites the outlets "located about 10 degrees to about 180 degrees apart relative to the central axis."
• Claim(s) it potentially anticipates: None of claims 1–9 in full. It discloses or suggests the annular ring with a plurality of outlet orifices and an internal fuel passage sub-combination of claim 1(f)/claim 5, and a "plurality of outlets … to disperse the fuel into the fuel inlet port." It discloses no throttle body, air intake, throttle shaft/plate, or ECU. Its § 102 value is therefore as: (i) 102(a)(1) art against the annular-ring/orifice limitations, and (ii) the linchpin of the § 103 combination already identified in the Obviousness section.
• Note worth flagging: inventor Douglas Joseph Flynn is a named inventor on US 6,837,228 B2 and on US 11,409,894 B2, and Holley is the common assignee. The AIA § 102(b)(1)(A) grace-period exception is unavailable (the reference published/issued 2004–2005, far more than one year before the effective filing date), and § 102(b)(2)(C)'s common-ownership exception applies only to § 102(a)(2) art — so US 6,837,228 B2 remains good § 102(a)(1) prior art notwithstanding the common inventor and assignee. This is a genuinely notable self-collision in the portfolio.
• URLs: https://patents.google.com/patent/US6837228 ; https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/54/19/86/9f9e9bdd6d0db2/WO2003027476A3.pdf

3.2 US 2009/0145406 A1 — Fuel injection body sized to replace carburetor body

• Full citation: US 2009/0145406 A1 (Farrell et al.); published 2009-06-11.
• Brief description: A fuel-injection body dimensioned as a drop-in carburetor replacement (same corporate lineage as the Farrell US 7,735,475 B2 family cited as prior art inside US 10,094,353 B2's own background).
• Claim(s) it potentially anticipates: Claim 3, and the terminal limitation of claim 5 ("configured to replace a carburetor of an internal combustion engine") — but not claims 1 or 5 as a whole, because it does not appear to disclose the annular ring / fuel channel / plurality of orifices. It anticipates only the carburetor-replacement limitation.
• Provenance note: this reference appears in the family's citation records (it is listed in the "Referenced Cited" table of US 9,845,740 B2 and in the "Similar Documents" listing for US 11,409,894 B2). I flag that its status as a citation on the face of US 11,409,894 B2 itself should be verified against the printed patent.

3.3 US 9,115,671 B2 — Hybrid carburetor and fuel injection assembly

• Full citation: US 9,115,671 B2; inventor Marvin Benoit; assignee Benebe, Inc.; priority 2012-11-07; granted 2015-08-25.
• Brief description: A hybrid assembly combining carburetor and electronic fuel-injection hardware for an internal-combustion engine.
• Claim(s) it potentially anticipates: Claim 3 / the claim-5 carburetor-replacement limitation only. It is not a single-reference anticipation candidate for claims 1 or 5 (no annular fuel-distribution ring with a plurality of radial discharge orifices disclosed).

3.4 JPS 611844 A — Fuel injection device (燃料噴射装置)

• Full citation: JPS 611844 A; applicant/assignee Automob. Antipollut. & Saf. Res. Center; application JP 59-121828; priority 1984-06-15; published 1986-01-07. (Also rendered as "JPS 611844 A … 1986-01-07" in the record.)
• Brief description: An electronically controlled fuel-injection apparatus of the "throttle-valve-upstream injection" type (絞弁の上流に燃料噴射弁を配置した絞弁上流噴射方式), i.e., the fuel injector is arranged upstream of the throttle valve, with ECU-based acceleration-enrichment correction based on throttle-opening change rate.
• Claim(s) it potentially anticipates: None in full. It is relevant only to the isolated limitations "a throttle shaft and throttle plate … to vary an air flow" and "an electronic control unit to control fuel flow from said electronic fuel injector" (claim 1(i)), and to injection-before-throttle timing if downstream/upstream position were ever argued as limiting. It discloses no throttle body with an annular ring or a ring-borne plurality of orifices. It is listed among the examiner-cited foreign references for the family and is best treated as § 102(a)(1) art for the control-electronics limitation.
• URL: https://patents.google.com/patent/JPS611844A/ja

3.5 US 2012/0198852 A1 (Snecma) — Multipoint injector for a turbine engine combustion chamber

• Full citation: US 2012/0198852 A1; assignee Snecma; priority 2009-10-13; published 2012-08-09.
• Brief description: Annular multipoint fuel injector for a turbine (gas-turbine) engine combustion chamber.
• Claim(s) it potentially anticipates: None. Different field of endeavor (turbine combustion, not reciprocating-engine throttle bodies). Its citation value is as evidence of the general annular-multipoint-injection concept; it is not § 102 art against any of claims 1–9.

3.6 US 7,634,983 B2 (Grant) — droplet subdividing flow modifiers

• Full citation: US 7,634,983 B2; inventor Barry S. Grant; priority 2007-06-13; granted 2009-12-22. Title: Fuel inducted and injected inlet runners for combustion engine with flow modifiers for subdividing fuel droplets.
• Claim(s) it potentially anticipates: None of claims 1–9; potentially relevant only to claim 8 ("fuel is atomized when entering the air intake") as § 102(a)(1)/§ 103 art on atomization of injected fuel.

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4. Tier 3 — Background/pre-2013 citation groups (no viable single-reference anticipation)

These are cited for context and for isolated elements. Each is pre-2013 and thus technically available under § 102(a)(1), but none discloses the claimed combination (electronic injector in a throttle body + annular fuel channel about the intake wall + ECU).

(a) Carburetor-era anchoring art (1914–1974). US 1,153,436 A (1915-09-14); US 1,386,036 A (1921-08-02); US 1,394,536 A (1921-10-25); US 1,465,449 A (1923-08-21); US 1,983,225 A (Bendix, 1934-12-04); US 2,066,544 A (Shaw, Variable throat for fluid passages, 1937-01-05); US 2,428,377 A (Morris, Injection type carburetor, 1947-10-07); US 3,384,059 A (1968-05-21); US 3,545,948 A (1970-12-08); US 3,613,650 A (Bosch, Fuel injection system for internal combustion engines, 1971-10-19); US 3,659,572 A (Mack Trucks, Variable venturi carburetors, 1972-05-02); US 3,763,936 A; US 3,799,514 A; US 3,800,531 A; US 3,800,769 A (Graffman, Injector carburetor, 1974-04-02). These establish annular/venturi fuel distribution and injection-type carburetion but lack an ECU and a throttle-body electronic injector architecture. Anticipates: nothing in claims 1–9 in full.

(b) Colt Industries / Coltec induction-passage cluster (1978–1993). US 4,224,908 A; US 4,230,645 A (Induction passage structure, 1980-10-28); US 4,246,875 A; US 4,294,282 A; US 4,306,441 A and US 4,318,214 A (Method and apparatus for manufacturing and forming engine induction passage venturi); US 4,325,339 A; US 4,357,283 A; US 4,406,266 A (Fuel metering and discharging apparatus for a combustion engine, 1983-09-27); US 4,434,762 A; US 4,434,763 A; US 4,465,640 A; US 4,539,960 A (fuel pressure regulator); US 4,556,032 A; US 4,798,329 A; US 4,802,902 A; US 4,929,260 A. Induction passage structure and Fuel metering and discharging apparatus are the most structurally interesting for the "fuel channel about an induction passage / multiple discharge points" concept, but all predate electronic TBI and disclose no ECU-controlled injector in a throttle body. Anticipates: none of claims 1–9 in full.

(c) Early "stand-alone"/retrofit fuel injection (1990–1998). US 5,012,780 A (Coltec, Stand alone fuel injection system, 1991-05-07); US 5,261,382 A (Coltec, Fuel injection system, 1993-11-16); US 5,551,404 A (Coltec, Fuel injection system for marine engines, 1996-09-03); US 5,598,826 A (Hitachi America, Cold start fuel control system, 1997-02-04); US 5,809,972 A (Grant, Venturi-assisted fuel injection carburetor system, 1998-09-22). Relevant to claim 3 / claim 5's carburetor-replacement limitation; anticipates none of claims 1–9 in full.

(d) Barry Grant carburetor/nozzle art (1996–2008). US 5,869,470 A (1999-01-26); US 6,120,007 A (2000-09-19); US 5,807,512 A (1998-09-15); US 5,890,476 A (Fuel delivery nozzle, 1999-04-06); US 7,255,331 B2 (2007-08-14); US 7,343,896 B2 (2008-03-18); US 6,874,768 B2 (2005-04-05); US 2008/0302326 A1 (2008-12-11). Carburetor hardware; anticipates none of claims 1–9 in full.

(e) Holley's own pre-priority patent art (1997–2009). US 6,205,395 B1 (2001-03-20); US 6,339,743 B1 (2002-01-15); US 6,272,428 B1 (2001-08-07); US 6,535,811 B1 (System and method for real-time electronic engine control, 2003-03-18); US 6,378,512 B1 (Discharge nitrous oxide and fuel injection plate, 2002-04-30); US 7,533,661 B2 (Intake manifold plate adapter, 2009-05-19); US 7,591,245 B2 / US 7,658,177 B2 / US 2008/0110436 A1 (Air valve and method of use, 2009-09-22 / 2010-02-09 / 2008-05-15); US 6,481,698 B1 (Dual barrel carburetor, 2002-11-19); US 6,524,088 B1 (2003-02-18); US 6,126,007 A; WO 00/40445 A1 (2000-07-13). These are § 102(a)(1) art and, importantly, they document Holley's own long-standing architecture. The § 102(b)(1)(A) grace-period exception is unavailable to all of them (published >1 year before the 2013-10-18 effective filing date). Anticipates: none of claims 1–9 in full; US 6,378,512 B1 and US 7,533,661 B2 are the most relevant to "fuel injection plate/adapter mounted in an intake" concepts.

(f) Design patents and design registrations. USD 447,147 S1; USD 508,496 S1; USD 543,555 S1; USD 555,668 S1; USD 578,550 S1; USD 645,058 S1; USD 659,714 S1; USD 760,804 S1; USD 721,389 S1; USD 808,435 S1; USD 810,142 S1; USD 877,201 S1; USD 900,875 S1; USD 902,254 S1; USD 902,257 S1; USD 910,716 S1; USD 924,273 S1; USD 933,713 S1; USD 938,993 S1; USD 968,468 S1; USD 979,605 S1; USD 989,127 S1; USD 991,981 S1; USD 1,060,431 S1; AU 339,157 S; AU 341,133 S; AU 348,732 S; AU 348,733 S; AU 348,734 S; AU 356,762 S; AU 2017/10470 S; AU 2017/10471 S; AU 2018/13353 S; AU 2018/13355 S; AU 2018/15034 S; AU 2018/15036 S; AU 2018/16623 S; AU 2018/16624 S. Ornamental subject matter only; no § 102(a)(1) weight against apparatus claims 1–9.

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5. Claim-by-claim § 102 anticipation matrix

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6. Material observations for the invalidity assessment

1. The strongest § 102 theory is same-industry and pre-dates the priority by ~17 months. US 10,094,353 B2 and US 9,845,740 B2 (MSD, LLC) disclose essentially the claimed architecture — including a fuel-distribution ring seated in the throttle bore with a circumferential fuel channel and a plurality of orifices in fluid communication with an electronic injector, plus an integrated ECU — in a throttle body expressly "designed and arranged to easily replace four-barrel carburetors." Because US 10,094,353 B2's application was filed 2012-05-11, it is available under AIA § 102(a)(2) as of that date (and under § 102(a)(1) as of its 2013-11-14 pre-grant publication).

2. The examiner allowed the application after a single non-final action. The Legal Events record shows NON FINAL ACTION MAILED 2021-09-30 → RESPONSE 2022-01-18 → NOTICE OF ALLOWANCE 2022-03-18. That is consistent with no anticipatory reference having been applied against the then-pending claims — which makes the US 10,094,353 B2 / US 9,845,740 B2 theory above a first-instance argument rather than a re-run of a rejected ground. Verify the 2021-09-30 Office Action and the 2022-01-18 response in PatentCenter before relying on this.

3. A structurally near-identical reference cannot be used. US 9,376,997 B1 (Farrell et al., Fuel Injection Technology Inc.) recites a sleeve in the air intake with a plurality of orifices through its wall fluidly connected to a passage fed by a side-mounted injector, plus an ECU box and a fuel rail normal to the valve shaft — i.e., almost claim 1 and claim 4 verbatim. Its 2016-01-13 filing / 2016-06-28 grant date post-dates the 2013-10-18 priority, so it is not § 102 prior art against this patent. It appears in the record only in the "Families Citing this family" bucket. Any anticipation chart that cites it against US 11,409,894 B2 is using the wrong-direction citation.

4. The 20–38° spacing (claim 7) and the fuel-port-angle limitations (claims 4 and 9) are the least exposed. No pre-priority reference in the citation list discloses them; US 9,376,997 B1 does but is date-barred.

5. Common-owner/common-inventor self-collision. Holley's own US 6,837,228 B2 (inventor Douglas Joseph Flynn, also an inventor here) is valid § 102(a)(1) art because it issued 2005-01-04, more than a year before the effective filing date, and the AIA § 102(b)(2)(C) common-ownership exception does not reach § 102(a)(1) art. It discloses the annular-pattern multi-outlet ring concept but no throttle body — so it is § 103 material, not § 102 material for claims 1/5.

6. Same-family citations are not prior art. US 2015/0108256 A1, US 10,012,197 B2 and US 10,570,866 B2 are the applicant's own family (published 2015-04-23, 2018-07-03, 2020-02-25 respectively) and post-date the 2013-10-18 priority. They are relevant to § 112 support and family-coherence questions, not to § 102.

7. Apparent record artifact. EP 3,729,599 B1 ("A charging system and a method of charging an electrical energy storage device," Heliox B.V., priority 2017-12-22) is listed among the family's citations but is in an unrelated field and post-dates the priority; it should be disregarded as a data artifact.

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7. What must be verified before filing

• Full-text claim charts for US 10,094,353 B2 and US 9,845,740 B2 against each of claims 1, 3, 5 and 8, confirming that the "fuel port" and "fuel channel disposed about an inner wall of said air intake" limitations read on those disclosures (§ 102 requires the single reference to disclose the limitations arranged as in the claim).
• Whether the "fuel channel formed by one or both of an annular ring and said inner wall" alternative element is met by the two-piece insert/housing ring of those references.
• The 2021-09-30 Office Action and 2022-01-18 response in PatentCenter (whether any § 102 ground was raised and overcome).
• Confirmation that US 2009/0145406 A1 is a citation on the face of US 11,409,894 B2 (it appears in the family and "Similar Documents" record, and I have not verified its appearance on this patent's own front page).
• A fresh prior-art search outside the citation list, targeted at the claim 7 (20–38°), claim 4 (perpendicular port/shaft) and claim 9 (angled port) limitations, which the cited record does not reach with pre-priority art.

Obviousness Analysis of US11409894 under 35 U.S.C. § 103

A person having ordinary skill in the art (PHOSITA) in the field of internal combustion engine fuel systems, particularly throttle body fuel injection (TBI) and carburetor replacement, would be motivated to combine existing prior art references to arrive at the claimed invention in US patent 11409894. The PHOSITA would possess knowledge of fuel atomization, air-fuel mixing optimization, and the practical challenges of adapting fuel injection systems, especially in the aftermarket for carbureted vehicles.

The independent claims (Claim 1 and Claim 5) of US11409894 describe a fuel injection throttle body comprising an air intake, a fuel port, an electronic fuel injector, a fuel channel disposed about an inner wall of the air intake (formed by an annular ring or inner wall or both), a plurality of orifices in the annular ring, a throttle shaft and plate, and an electronic control unit. Claim 5 additionally specifies the throttle body as being configured to replace a carburetor.

Combination of Prior Art References:

The claimed invention would be rendered obvious by combining the teachings of:

1. US9845740B2 (or US10094353B2 or US9303578B2) as a primary reference for a throttle body fuel injection system with improved fuel distribution.
2. US6837228B2 as a secondary reference disclosing a fuel injector nozzle adapter for dispersing fuel through multiple outlets.
3. US20090145406A1 as a secondary reference teaching a fuel injection body configured to replace a carburetor.

All cited references predate the priority date of US11409894 (October 18, 2013).

1. Primary Reference: US9845740B2 (Priority: 2012-05-11)

US9845740B2, titled "Throttle body fuel injection system with improved fuel distribution and idle air control," discloses a throttle body fuel injection system for an internal combustion engine. This patent addresses the need for "improved fuel distribution" within a TBI context. It inherently teaches:

• An air intake extending through a fuel injection throttle body.
• A fuel port and electronic fuel injector in fluid communication with a fuel supply.
• A throttle shaft and throttle plate disposed within the air intake to vary airflow.
• An electronic control unit (ECU) to control fuel flow from the electronic fuel injector.

Thus, US9845740B2 provides the fundamental elements of a fuel injection throttle body system, along with a stated objective of improving fuel distribution.

2. Secondary Reference: US6837228B2 (Priority: 2001-09-28)

US6837228B2, titled "Fuel injector nozzle adapter," discloses an adapter designed "for use with a fuel injector and a fuel inlet port of a combustion engine." The abstract further specifies that the "adapter includes a housing and a fuel passage within the housing for receiving fuel from a fuel injector and providing the fuel to a plurality of outlets to disperse the fuel into the fuel inlet port."

The features of US6837228B2 directly address the missing elements in Claim 1 and Claim 5:

• The "housing" of the adapter, when integrated into the circular air intake of a throttle body, functions as the "annular ring" disposed along the inner wall.
• The "fuel passage within the housing" corresponds to the "fuel channel disposed about an inner wall of said air intake," which may be formed by the annular ring.
• The "plurality of outlets to disperse the fuel into the fuel inlet port" directly corresponds to the "plurality of orifices disposed in said annular ring and in fluid communication with said fuel channel."

Motivation for Combining US9845740B2 and US6837228B2 (for Claim 1):

The background of US11409894 itself explicitly articulates the problem solved by the invention: "Factory TBI system designs utilized fuel injectors that sprayed fuel at higher pressure that were placed vertically above the throttle plates... most aftermarket TBI systems place fuel injectors horizontally (or close to a horizontal position) into the sides of the throttle body. Unlike the factory TBI designs, this horizontal placement requires a throttle body design that redirects the normal fuel injector spray pattern." It further states, "If fuel is not directed into the throttle body in a way that atomizes the fuel so it can thoroughly mix with the airstream through the throttle body, the engine may not run smoothly, may not make adequate power, and may have poor fuel economy and emissions."

US9845740B2 provides a TBI system with the stated goal of achieving "improved fuel distribution." A PHOSITA, recognizing the known challenges of effectively atomizing and mixing fuel from horizontally mounted injectors in a TBI system (as highlighted in US11409894's background), would be motivated to seek solutions to enhance fuel distribution. US6837228B2 offers a direct and readily available solution in the form of an adapter that takes fuel from a single injector and disperses it through multiple outlets into the air intake.

It would have been obvious for a PHOSITA, aiming to achieve the "improved fuel distribution" taught by US9845740B2, to integrate the fuel injector nozzle adapter of US6837228B2 into the air intake of the throttle body. This combination would create the claimed annular fuel channel with multiple orifices, effectively redirecting and better atomizing the fuel for optimal mixing with the airstream, thereby directly overcoming the known limitations of horizontal injector placement and satisfying the desire for improved fuel distribution.

3. Secondary Reference: US20090145406A1 (Priority: 2009-03-05)

US20090145406A1, titled "Fuel injection body sized to replace carburetor body," explicitly discloses a "fuel injection body sized to replace carburetor body."

Motivation for Combining with US20090145406A1 (for Claim 5):

Claim 5 of US11409894 specifically includes the feature that the "fuel injection throttle body [is] configured to replace a carburetor of an internal combustion engine." The background of US11409894 acknowledges the "resurgence in people purchasing TBI systems to retrofit older carbureted vehicles." A PHOSITA would be well aware of this aftermarket trend and the desirability of creating TBI systems that can easily replace existing carburetors.

Given the existing knowledge of TBI systems with improved fuel distribution (from US9845740B2 + US6837228B2), it would have been an obvious design choice for a PHOSITA to incorporate these improvements into a throttle body specifically "sized to replace carburetor body," as taught by US20090145406A1. The motivation would be to provide an enhanced retrofit solution for older vehicles, offering better performance, fuel economy, and emissions through optimized fuel atomization and mixing.

Conclusion

Based on the foregoing, a PHOSITA would have found it obvious to combine the teachings of US9845740B2 and US6837228B2 to achieve the features of an annular fuel channel with multiple orifices for improved fuel distribution in a TBI system, as claimed in US11409894. Furthermore, the additional limitation in Claim 5 of configuring the throttle body to replace a carburetor would be obvious in light of US20090145406A1 and the known market for such retrofit solutions.