CAFC reverses US District Court for the Southern District of California on Claim Construction and Satisfaction of Written Description Requirement

In THE LARYNGEAL MASK COMPANY LTD. AND LMA NORTH AMERICA, INC., v. AMBU A/S, AMBU INC., AND AMBU LTD, 10-1028 (CAFC, September 21, 2010), the CAFC reversed the US District Court for the Southern District of California on Claim Construction and Satisfaction of Written Description Requirement. The Laryngeal Mask Company Ltd. and LMA North America, Inc. (collectively, LMA) appealed the district court's summary judgment that the Aura40™, AuraOnce ™, and AuraStraight™ products made by Ambu A/S, Ambu Inc., and Ambu Ltd. (collectively, Ambu) did not infringe the asserted claims of U.S. Patent No. 7,156,100 ('100 patent) and that all claims were invalid for lack of written description under 35 U.S.C. Section 112. Laryngeal mask airway devices were pioneered in the 1980s by Dr. Archibald Brain, the inventor listed on the '100 patent. According to the '100 patent, one problem with prior art laryngeal mask airway devices is that during insertion, the leading edge of the deflated cuff will occasionally fold over on itself, allowing the more rigid end of the mask to catch the inside of the patient's throat. This can be unpleasant for the patient and may prevent the cuff from making a full seal around the patient's laryngeal inlet.

The invention of the '100 patent seeks to minimize the risk that the deflated cuff will fold over on itself by adding a reinforcing rib which serves to stiffen the leading end of the LMA-device during the course of the procedure for its insertion.

The district court construed the disputed terms of the '100 patent. Relevant to this appeal, the court construed the claim term "backplate" as "the relatively rigid mask structure surrounded by the cuff and including a tube joint."

The tube joint is the connection between the mask and the airway tube. See, e.g. , '100 patent figs. 2-3. The district court concluded that Ambu's accused devices did not have a tube joint because the mask structure and the airway tube are integral y molded. They are one continuous piece rather than two pieces joined together by a joint. Because the accused products lacked a tube joint the district court concluded they lacked a backplate.

Therefore, the court granted summary judgment that Ambu's Aura40, AuraOnce, and AuraStraight products did not literal y infringe claims 1 to 6 of the '100 patent.

The district court further granted Ambu's motion for summary judgment of invalidity for lack of written description.

The court determined that the specification failed to adequately describe a mask having at least a portion of the posterior portion of a wall of the cuff in the distal region being thicker and stiffer than other portions of the cuff, as required by claim 1. Id. at 4-6. The court thus concluded that claim 1 and its dependent claims were invalid under 35 U.S.C. Section 112,

Ambu argued that the claim limitation "back-plate" should be construed to include a tube joint.

The CAFC stated that "Although it is a close case, in light of the claim language, specification, and prosecution history, we conclude that the term backplate is not so limited. The claims themselves are limited to the mask structure. The claims require "a backplate" defining a passage."

Although there is ample discussion of the tube joint throughout the specification, there is only one place where the specification indicates that the tube joint is part of the backplate (in the preferred embodiment's description of Figures 5 and 6): The backplate 52 has a one-piece, integral spoon-shape including a bowl 90 and an external tube-joint 92 oriented proximal y relative to the bowl, as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6.

[T]he claim term will not receive its ordinary meaning if the patentee acted as his own lexicographer and clearly set forth a definition of the disputed claim term in either the specification or prosecution history.). The specification does not clearly contain such a special definition.

Although the preferred embodiment includes a backplate that contains a tube joint, the CAFC held that they do not generally limit claims to the preferred embodiment.

The CAFC further found that the specification did not clearly indicate the patentee's intent to give backplate a unique meaning different from its ordinary and customary meaning to one of skill in the art.

The failure to introduce a dictionary definition for the disputed claim term did not preclude a conclusion that there exists a plain meaning to one of skill in the art.

The CAFC found that the term backplate has a somewhat self-descriptive nature. As the prior art patents indicate it is the plate on the back. In light of the claims, specification, prosecution history, and prior art patents, the court concluded that one of skill in the art would understand the claimed backplate to be "the relatively rigid mask structure surrounded by the cuff."

The CAFC then concluded that one of skill in the art would not conclude that the backplate must have a tube joint and that the inventor did not act as his own lexicographer here and clearly require the backplate to have a tube joint.

Regarding the District Court's summary judgment order on lack of an description, the CAFC stated "adequate written description requires that the applicant "convey with reasonable clarity to those skilled in the art that, as of the filing date sought, he or she was in possession of the [claimed] invention."'

The court then concluded that the district court erred in granting summary judgment that the patent was invalid for failing the written description requirement. The Summary of the Invention does not require that the cuff reinforcement be connected to the backplate. Rather, it describes a reinforcement incorporated into the distal end of the cuff.

The Summary of the Invention further states that "[i]n a preferred aspect," the reinforcement extends from the backplate.

The court agreed with LMA that one of ordinary skill in the art could read these disclosures as providing for a cuff reinforcement in the distal region that need not be connected to the backplate. In addition, we agree with LMA that one of ordinary skill in the art could read the Cuff Wall Thickening Passage as disclosing a thickened cuff portion that need not be connected to the backplate.

Broadest-Construction Rubric Coupled with Term "Comprising" Does not Give USPTO Unbridled License to Expand Scope of Claims

The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ("CAFC") held in In re Suitco Surface, Inc., 2009-1418 (CAFC, April 14, 2010) that the "broadest broadest-construction rubric coupled with the term “comprising” does not give the PTO an unfettered license to interpret claims to embrace anything remotely related to the claimed invention. Rather, claims should always be read in light of the specification and teachings in the underlying patent. See Schriber-Schroth Co. v. Cleveland Trust Co., 311 U.S. 211, 217 (1940) (“The claims of a patent are always to be read or interpreted in light of its specifications.”).

The CAFC remanded the US Patent and Trademark Office ("PTO") claim interpretation that was made during a reexamination proceeding.  The reexamination was for US Patent 4,944,514 ("the '514 patent"), the representative claim 4 follows:

4. On a floor having a flat top surface and an improved material for finishing the top surface of the floor, the improvement comprising:
at least one elongated sheet including a uniform flexible film of clear plastic material having a thickness between about one mil and about twenty-five mils and
a continuous layer of adhesive material disposed between the top surface of the floor and the flexible film, the adhesive layer releasably adhering the flexible film onto the top surface of the floor. (emphases added).

During reexamination, the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences ("the Board") affirmed the patent examiner's rejection of claim 4 based on US Patent 3,785,102 ("Amos") or US Patent 4,543,765 ("Barrett").  Amos shows a plurality of plastic sheets, each containing an adhesive layer.  Individual layers are removed after they have been used to collect dirt or other debris from the soles of shoes by people entering a clean or sterile room.  Barrett shows the use of a clear plastic connected to a floor with an adhesive layer.  The clear plastic in Barrett is used to temporarily protect a floor during construction.

In its rejection, the Board construed the term “material for finishing the top surface of the floor” to mean “requiring a material that is structurally suitable for placement on the top surface of a floor.” Under that construction, according to the Board, the “material for finishing the top surface of the floor” could be any layer above the floor regardless of whether it was the top or final layer. The Board also construed the term “uniform flexible film” to mean “including, for example, a flexible film having the same thickness throughout, as well as a flexible film having the same textured surface throughout.” 

The CAFC disagreed, stating the express language of the claim and the specification require the finishing material to be the top and final layer on the surface being finished. See, e.g., ’514 patent, col.1 ll.15-20 (“The present invention is directed generally to a material and method for quickly and easily producing a transparent wear resistant finish on a smooth flat surface subject to wear and more particularly to a material and method for finishing a floor . . . .”). The PTO’s proffered construction therefore fails.  Slip Opinion at pages 8-9.

CAFC Expands Ruling to Leave Open Question of Abandoned versus Dedicated to the Public

The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (“CAFC”) found the District Court for the Southern District of New York erred in its claim construction of critical claim terms in Shindler Elevator Corp. et al. v. Otis ElevatorCompany,  2009-1146 (CAFC, January 15, 2010).  As a result, the District Court’s summary judgment of non-infringement by Otis of US Patent 5,689,094 (“the ‘094 patent”) ruling was vacated.   The accused elevator control system was installed at 7 World Trade Center in New York City.

The ‘094 patent includes two independent claims, both of which include the disputed terms at issue:   “information transmitter” and “recognition device”.

In Fig. 2, the recognition devices 5 mounted in access areas 33 and 34. When a passenger 35 is recognized in access area 33, an elevator is dispatched, and a display device 18, which is mounted above the elevator door and/or at an input device 19, tells the passenger which elevator to take. A proposed destination floor is announced acoustically or is displayed visually on display device 18. If the passenger wishes to change his destination floor, he may do so manually at input device 19.

Claim 1 is representative of the asserted claims and includes the disputed claim elements “information transmitter” (and “recognition device”. 

1. An elevator installation having a plurality of elevators comprising:

a recognition device for recognizing elevator calls entered at an entry location by an information transmitter carried by an elevator user, initializing the entry location as a starting floor of a journey;

a control device receiving the recognized elevator call and allocating an elevator to respond to the elevator call, through a predetermined allocating algorithm;

a call acknowledging device comprising one of a display device and an acoustic device to acknowledge recognition of the elevator call and to communicate a proposed destination floor to the elevator user;

the recognition device, mounted in the access area in the vicinity of the elevators and spatially located away from elevator doors, actuating the information transmitter and comprising a unit that independently reads data transmitted from the information transmitter carried by the elevator user and a storage device coupled between the unit and the control device;

the recognition device one of transmitting proposed destination floor data, based upon the data transmitted from the information transmitter, to the control device, and, transmitting elevator user specific data,  based upon individual features of the elevator user stored in the storage device, to the control device.

The District Court’s Claim Construction:

The district court construed “information transmitter” to mean “a device that communicates with a recognition device via electromagnetic waves, after being actuated by that recognition device, without requiring any sort of personal action by the passenger.”  It construed “recognition device” to mean “a device that actuates and reads data transmitted by an information transmitter without requiring any sort of personal action by the passenger.” Id. In the claim construction order, the district court declined to specify the particular kind of “personal action” prohibited under its construction, but stated that it “rules out, not just standing in front of the recognition device, or inputting data into the information transmitter by hand, but any and all types of personal action by the passenger.”

The district court issued its summary judgment ruling on November 17, 2008. Although it had previously said that “any and all types of personal action” were prohibited under its construction, the district court refined its understanding of “personal action” on summary judgment to expressly permit “walking into the monitored area.”

The CAFC Claim Construction and Analysis:

The CAFC majority held that the District Court’s claim construction was too narrow and construed the claims to allow the user to take “personal action” to the extent that he or she brings the “information transmitter” within range of the “recognition device”.

The majority relied upon the claim language, the specification and the file prosecution history to construe the claims.

Claim Language:

The majority found that in claim 1, the term “information transmitter” itself suggests that the transmitter is a thing, separate and apart from an “elevator user”, which transmits information. The claim also provides that “elevator calls [are] entered at an entry location by an information transmitter.” Thus, at least with regard to the transmission of information and the entry of calls, it is the information transmitter—not the elevator user—that performs these tasks.

Carrying a transmitter is thus a type of “personal action” that is expressly required in the claims. The majority held that nowhere does claim 1 limit the act of carrying to any specific manner of carrying.

Claim 7 depends from claim 1 and adds the phrase “wherein the recognition device reads a key having a code.”  Because a user would need to use his hands to bring the transmitter key within range of the recognition device to unlock the door, or to clock in or out of work, these types of personal action are implicitly permitted in claim 7 and, by extension, in claim 1.

Specification:

The phrase “personal action” is used only once in the specification, in the following sentence:

The advantages achieved by the invention reside in the fact that the desired journey destination is communicated automatically to the elevator control by [(1)] the information transmitters carried by the elevator users or by [(2)] the recognition of features of the elevator users without any personal action being required by the passenger.

The majority supports the broad reading of personal action, because a passenger would need to place his hand on the optical recognition device for it to read his fingerprints, this cannot be the “personal action” to which the sentence refers.

Prosecution History:

The majority interpreted the prosecution where it describes the invention as operating “automatically, contactlessly, and independently of the orientation of the information transmitter” as modification actions that take place only after the passenger has brought the transmitter within range of the recognition device—specifically, the actuation of the transmitter, the entry of call commands, and the selection of a destination floor.  The majority therefore concluded that applicants’ statement during the prosecution did not constitute a “clear and unmistakable” disavowal of personal action for the limited purpose of bringing the transmitter within range of the recognition device. Instead, the majority read the prosecution history in this case “as support for the construction already discerned from the claim language and confirmed by the written description.” citing 800 Adept, Inc. v. Murex Sec., Ltd., 539 F.3d 1354, 1365 (Fed. Cir. 2008).

Dissent:

The dissent agrees that the “without requiring any sort of personal action” construction imposed by the district judge unduly limited the scope of the claims.  Dependent claim 7 contemplates using a key (or a card swipe) to enter the building and at the same time transmitting the user’s elevator data.  In other words, the device would be “hands-free” and “automatic” even though the user has to take elaborate action to bring the device within range.

The specification and prosecution history make no such distinction, and consistently emphasize the hands-free and automatic nature of the device without regard to whether it is in range or not.

The majority disputes the dissent’s position in footnote 2, stating that “The embodiment was not “abandoned,” it simply was never claimed in the application that led to this particular patent.” 2009-1146 at page 11, fn 2. 

That raises the question of how does abandoned compare with the well established rule that disclosed, but unclaimed matter is dedicated to the public. Johnson & Johnston Associates, Inc. v. R.E. Service Co., Nos. 99-1076, -1179, -1180, 2002 WL 466547 (Fed. Cir. Mar. 28, 2002) (en banc) (per curiam).   There were no divisional patent applications filed from this application that resulted in the ‘094 patent, so according to Johnson & Johnson, the embodiment was dedicated to the public.  This case leaves open the question:  what is the difference between “abandonment” and “dedication to the public”?