Federal Circuit: And can mean or, if it makes the claim make sense In a decision last week, the Federal Circuit affirmed a district court's permanent injunction against a defendant to prevent infringement of a patent. The district court held the patent not invalid and infringed, based in part on a claim construction that construed the word "and" to mean "or." Specifically, based on the specification and other […] Continue Reading →
Patentee cannot recapture claim scope disavowed during prosecution to prove infringement In a decision Friday, the Federal Circuit affirmed a district court's claim construction and its concomitant grant of summary judgment of noninfringement, as well as its denial of attorney fees under § 285. The district court held the patentee had, during prosecution of the patent at issue, made a clear and unmistakable disavowal of claim […] Continue Reading →
Dependent claim can be construed to be broader than independent claim based on prosecution history In a decision last week, the Federal Circuit held a district court construed 1 of 2 claim terms correctly, and incorrectly concluded that prosecution history estoppel barred application of the doctrine of equivalents to a third claim term because the narrowing amendment was only tangentially related to the equivalent at issue. As a result, the […] Continue Reading →
Another preliminary injunction vacated on appeal, this time because of claim construction For a second time this week, the Federal Circuit vacated a preliminary injunction entered by a district court. This time, the court found the district court's claim construction too broad, and under the courts revised, narrower construction, found that the plaintiffs were not likely to succeed on the merits of the case. As a result, […] Continue Reading →
Claims requiring an “insert” do not cover products with similar structure not “inserted” In a decision Wednesday, the Federal Circuit affirmed a district court ruling granting summary judgment of non-infringement. At the outset, the court noted the patent at issue had been before the court multiple times, and the claim terms at issue in this appeal had already been construed by the court in earlier cases.As the district […] Continue Reading →
Infringement of two claims and $74 million in damages affirmed, injunction reinstated In a decision last week, the Federal Circuit affirmed-in-part and reversed-in-part a jury verdict of infringement of a patent owned by Tivo relating to its DVR technology. The ruling was based on claim construction, with the court finding that, based on the correct construction of claims directed to the DVR hardware, there was no infringement […] Continue Reading →
Sufficient structure recited in claim limitation using “means” to prevent application of – 112 – 6 In a decision yesterday, the Federal Circuit reversed a district court's claim construction and the associated summary judgment of noninfringement. The district court held the relevant claim term was a means-plus-function limitation, as it used the word "means," as well as because in an interview summary in the prosecution history, it appeared the USPTO interpreted […] Continue Reading →
Claim construction excluding disclosed embodiment improper absent disclaimer of some kind In a decision today, the Federal Circuit reversed a district court's claim construction and the associated summary judgment of noninfringement. The district court's construction of one of the claim limitations resulted in certain embodiments of the invention disclosed in the figures to be excluded from the scope of the claims. Based on this construction, the […] Continue Reading →
When market entry fee part of damages for patent infringement, permanent injunction inappropriate In a recent decision, the Federal Circuit affirmed a finding of infringement of a patent relating to the detection and classification of Hepatitis C Virus, but remanded the case for a determination of anticipation. In arguably the most interesting aspect of the decision, the court vacated the permanent injunction entered against the defendant. The plaintiff […] Continue Reading →
Federal Circuit again tackles the meaning of “a” In a decision this week, the Federal Circuit affirmed-in-part and reversed-in-part a district court's grant of summary judgment of non-infringement with respect to two patents relating to cleaning printing press cylinders. Both findings were based on issues of claim construction, with one centering around an issue that has reached the Federal Circuit multiple times: the […] Continue Reading →