IP Blog
means-plus-function
Use of Passive Voice Insufficient to Connote Structure in MPF Analysis
The District Court for the Northern District of California recently issued a claim construction order in Zoho Corporation v. Sentius International, LLC, finding that the claim limitation “means for compiling the source material image from at least the plurality of discrete pieces” was indefinite. The present action arose from a declaratory judgement action brought about by Zoho alleging that it...
Lack of Algorithm in Specification Renders Means-Plus-Function Claim Indefinite
The Eastern District of Texas held that the only asserted claim of U.S. Patent No. 6,452,515 was indefinite because “the term ‘[means] for encoding these labels in a random order’” (alterations in original) invokes 35 USC § 112 ¶ 6, and “the specification of the ‘515 Patent does not disclose an algorithm for performing the encoding function required by this...
Means-Plus-Function Claim Construction of “Customization Module” Results in Indefinite Finding
In William Grecia v. Samsung Electronics (Fed. Cir. 2019) the Federal Circuit affirmed a finding of invalidity for U.S. Patent 8,533,860 (the ‘860 patent) under 35 U.S.C. § 112, ¶2 (indefinite). The invalidly determination for the ‘860 patent was arrived at by the Court after a means-plus-analysis and invocation of 35 U.S.C. § 112, ¶6. Claim 21, the only claim...
Claim term “Processor” does not invoke MPF Construction
In a tentative ruling, a court held the claim term “processor” did not invoke means-plus-function construction and was not governed by 35 U.S.C. §112¶6. Realtime Adaptive Streaming LLC v. Adobe Systems Inc., No. cv 18-9344-GW(JCx) (C.D. CA, July 25, 2019. Plaintiff Realtime Adaptive Streaming LLC (“Realtime”) brought an action against Defendants Google LLC and YouTube LLC (collectively “Google Defendants”) alleging...
Specification Provides Insufficient Structure for MPF Claim
Granting summary judgement to a defendant accused of patent infringement, a court held two patent claims including the term “control unit” indefinite, finding the description in the specification of a “tone control circuit” did not provide sufficient structure to a person of skill in the art (POSITA) under 35 U.S.C. §112(6). Nichia Corp. v. VIZIO, Inc., No.: cv 8:16-0545 SJO...