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If ordinary meaning of claim term does not resolve disputed construction, court must construe term

By McKee, Voorhees & Sease, P.L.C.

In a decision last week, the Federal Circuit vacated and remanded a jury's finding of willful infringement case back to a district court, based on errors in claim construction and application of the doctrine of equivalents.  The district court's original Markman hearing determined that no construction was necessary for a particular claim term, "only if," whose scope was disputed by the parties.  The court held the term did not require construction, as it was two simple, plain English words that were well understood.  The district court also permitted the jury to consider infringement under the doctrine of equivalents, finding that while the "only if" limitation was added for a substantial reason relating to patentability, the Festo presumption was rebutted because the rationale underlying the narrowing amendment was tangentially related to the equivalent at issue.

The Federal Circuit held that it was error for the district court not to construe the "only if" limitation.  While the court noted that "district courts are not (and should not be) required to construe every limitation present in a patent's asserted claims," in this case, because "the parties present[ed] a fundamental dispute regarding the scope of a claim term, it [was] the court's duty to resolve it."  The court also determined that the addition of the "only if" limitation during prosecution was not tangential to the alleged equivalent, and therefore application of the doctrine of equivalents was precluded.

More detail on O2 Micro Int'l Ltd. v. Beyond Innovation Tech. Co. after the jump.

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Full post as published by FileWrapper on April 10, 2008 (boomark / email).