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Question & Answer
A student emails with the following questions:
is the point of Johnson worldwide that
(1) the use / meaning of a term in the claim itself is more important
than its use/meaning in other pieces of intrinsic evidence, and
(2) claim terms are presumed to have their ordinary – i.e., dictionary
or field – meanings, and
(3) you should only look beyond the dictionary / field meanings if
patentee has defined the term differently himself or if the claim
language is unclear? if the claim language is unclear, that means we can look to other
extrinsic evidence??
I think you have it.
re: means-plus-function claims
presumption in favor of § 112 para 6 treatment can be overcome if the
element does not recite sufficient structure
what does that mean?
that’s funny: what does it MEAN?
Not sure what you MEAN here. 112/6 allows functional claiming -- i.e., the claiming of the operation of a device without structure. If you use the word “means”, you have presumptively availed yourself of 112/6 (and thus the structure will be imported from the specification). The presumption can be overcome, however, where the claim itself provides sufficient structure to perform the claimed function.
And this works the other way as well: without use of the term “means,” you presumptively do not get 112/6 treatment.
re: DOE and MPF claims—
how does odetics distinguish between statutory and doe infringement?
Well, the case itself sets this out pretty clearly: the DOE allows “equivalent” functions to be covered; statutory infringement is limited to identical functions.
Posted by Polk Wagner at April 25, 2005 10:05 PM in Questions
