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Use of mechanism in claim without more may result in means-plus-function interpretation

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

In a decision Monday, the a href=http://www.cafc.uscourts.gov/Federal Circuit/a affirmed a district court#39;s claim construction and related judgment of noninfringement. nbsp; The decision focused on the issue of claim construction in means plus function claims. The critical limitation used the term quot;mechanismquot; without any additional structural elements, and as a result the district court construed it to be a means-plus-function claim.nbsp; The Federal Circuit affirmed, noting in the past it had held limitations with the term quot;mechanismquot; without additional modifiers to be means-plus-function limitations.nbsp; Because it was undisputed the accused device did not have the corresponding structure in the specification or its structural equivalent, the court affirmed the district court#39;s grant of summary judgment.br /pMore detail of emWelker Bearing Co. v. PHD, Inc./em after the jump. /pp [More]

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