The Claims Interpreted Report

Does a “Plurality A, B, and C” Require More than One A, More than one B, and More than One C?: An Interpretation of Disjunctive and Conjunctive Phrases

SIMO Holdings v. Hong Kong uCloudlink Network (Fed. Cir., Jan. 5, 2021) is a precedential opinion that touches on an interesting claim interpretation topic regarding disjunctive and conjunctive phrases.  Independent claim 8 is at issue:

8. A wireless communication client or extension unit comprising a plurality of memory, processors, programs, communication circuitry, authentication data stored on a subscribed identify module (SIM) card and/or in memory and non-local calls database, at least one of the plurality of programs stored in the memory comprises instructions executable by at least one of the plurality of processors for:

enabling an initial setting of the wireless communication client or the extension unit and a remote administration system;

establishing a data communication link to transmit information among the wireless communication client or the extension unit, and the remote administration system;

establishing a local authentication information request in response to a local authentication request by a local cellular communication network, wherein the local authentication information request comprises information regarding the local authentication request for local authentication information received by the foreign wireless communication client or the extension unit from the local cellular communication network, and wherein the data communication link is distinct from the local cellular communication network;

relaying the local authentication information request to the remote administration system via the data communication link and obtaining suitable local authentication information from the remote administration system via the data communication link;

establishing local wireless services provided by the local cellular communication network to the wireless communication client or the extension unit by sending the local authentication information obtained from the remote administration system to the local cellular communication network over signal link; and

providing a communication service to the wireless communication client or the extension unit according to the established local wireless services.

            The interpretation of the first clause (the beginning of the claim ending at “processors for:”) was at the center of several claim interpretation topics.  The patent holder argued that “a plurality of memory, processors, programs, communication circuitry, authentication data stored on a subscribed identify module (SIM) card and/or in memory and non-local calls database,” merely requires two or more of the items from that list.  The accused infringer argued, to the contrary, that the grammatically correct interpretation of such language requires a plurality of each of the items in that list. 

The Court looks back to SuperGuide Corp. v. DirecTv Enters., Inc., 358 F.3d 870 (Fed. Cir. 2004) for guidance.  The SuperGuide case was also discussed in a previous post for the same claim interpretation issue.  The SuperGuide case interpreted “at least one of A and B” to mean at least one of A and at least one of B.  In the present case, despite the differences between “plurality” preceding the list as opposed to “at least one of” preceding the list, the Court came to the same conclusion as in SuperGuide and held that the language “a plurality of A, B, and C” requires a plurality A, a plurality of B, and a plurality of C. 

This gives us an important drafting lesson to ensure the intended interpretation of disjunctive and conjunctive phrases.  For example, if one is intending a disjunctive phrase, as asserted by the patent holder in SIMO, one option would be to claim “at least two selected from the group of A, B, and C.”  And for that matter, despite the holding in SIMO and SuperGuide, if one is intending a conjunctive phrase, it may be safer to claim “a plurality of A, a plurality of B, and a plurality of C” as opposed to “a plurality of A, B, and C” to avoid doubt.

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