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Federal Circuit again tackles the meaning of "a"

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

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 definition of the word "a."  The district court construed it to mean only one, rather than one or more.  

The Federal Circuit noted that in a claim, there is a general rule (as opposed to a "presumption" or a "convention") that "a" or "an" means "one or more," and is only given a more limiting construction if there is a clear intent to limit its meaning.  No such intent was present here, so the court reversed the district court's construction.

More details of Baldwin Graphic Sys., Inc. v. Siebert, Inc. after the jump.

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Full post as published by FileWrapper on January 18, 2008 (boomark / email).