Edward H. Phillips v. Awh Corporation, Hopeman Brothers, Inc., and Lofton Corporation, Defendants-Cross
AI Case Brief
Generate an AI-powered case brief with:
Estimated cost: $0.001 - $0.003 per brief
Full Opinion
415 F.3d 1303
75 U.S.P.Q.2d 1321
Edward H. PHILLIPS, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. AWH CORPORATION, Hopeman Brothers, INC., and Lofton Corporation, Defendants-Cross Appellants.
03-1269, -1286
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FEDERAL CIRCUIT
July 12, 2005, Decided
As Amended July 14, 2005.
Cert. denied by AWH Corp. v. Phillips, (Feb. 21, 2006)
Appealed from Phillips v. AWH Corp., (D. Colo., Jan. 21, 2003)
Carl F. Manthei, Attorney at Law, of Boulder, Colorado, argued for plaintiff-appellant.
Mark W. Fischer, Faegre & Benson LLP, of Boulder, Colorado, argued for defendants-cross appellants. With him on the brief were Neal S. Cohen and Peter J. Kinsella. Of counsel on the brief were Maurice M. Klee, Law Office of Maurice M. Klee, Ph.D., Fairfield, Connecticut, and Kenneth C. Bass, III, Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox, of Washington, DC. Of counsel was Scott E. Holwick, Faegre & Benson LLP.
John M. Whealan, Solicitor, United States Patent and Trademark Office, of Alexandria, Virginia, argued for amicus curiae United States. With him on the brief were James A. Toupin, General Counsel; Cynthia C. Lynch; Linda Moncys Isacson; and Thomas W. Krause, Associate Solicitors. Of counsel on the brief were Peter D. Keisler, Assistant Attorney General; John J. Fargo, Director, Commercial Litigation Branch, and Anthony J. Steinmeyer, Attorney, Appellate Staff, Civil Division, United States Department of Justice, of Washington, DC; and William E. Kovacic, General Counsel, and Suzanne T. Michel, Chief Counsel for Intellectual Property, Federal Trade Commission, of Washington, DC.
Robert L. Baechtold, Fitzpatrick, Cella, Harper & Scinto, of New York, New York, for amici curiae Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation, et al. With him on the brief were Nicholas N. Kallas, Stevan J. Bosses, and Brian V. Slater.
Paul H. Berghoff, McDonnell Boehnen Hulbert & Berghoff LLP, of Chicago, Illinois, for amicus curiae Intellectual Property Owners Association. With him on the brief was Joshua R. Rich. Of counsel on the brief was J. Jeffery Hawley, President, Intellectual Property Owners Association, of Washington, DC. Of counsel was Herbert C. Wamsley, Intellectual Property Owners Association.
Charles W. Bradley, Rader, Fishman & Grauer, PLLC, of Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, for amicus curiae Charles W. Bradley.
Henry C. Bunsow, Howrey Simon Arnold & White, LLP, of San Francisco, California, for amicus curiae AD HOC Committee of Patent Owners in the Wireless Industry. With him on the brief were Robert C. Laurenson and David W. Long. Of counsel on the brief were Robert D. Yeager, Thomas J. Edgington, and Mark G. Knedeisen, Kirkpatrick & Lockhart LLP, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Alexander C. Johnson, Jr., Marger, Johnson & McCollom, P.C., of Portland, Oregon, for amicus curiae Oregon Patent Law Association.
Alice A. Kipel, Steptoe & Johnson, LLP, of Washington, DC, for amicus curiae International Trade Commission Trial Lawyers Association.
Stephen P. McNamara, St. Onge Steward Johnston & Reens LLC, of Stamford, Connecticut, for amicus curiae Connecticut Intellectual Property Law Association. With him on the brief was Richard J. Basile. Of counsel on the brief were William J. Sapone, Coleman Sudol Sapone, P.C., of Bridgeport, Connecticut, Michael J. Rye, Cantor Colburn LLP, of Bloomfield, Connecticut.
Douglas E. Olson, Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker, LLP, of San Diego, California, for amicus curiae San Diego Intellectual Property Law Association. With him on the brief were Kurt M. Kjelland, John E. Peterson, and April M. Alex. Of counsel on the brief were Ned A. Israelsen, Knobbe Martens Olson & Bear, LLP, of San Diego, California, and William L. Respess, Nanogen, Inc., of San Diego, California.
John Will Ongman, Barnes & Thornburg LLP, of Washington, DC, for amicus curiae Biotechnology Industry Organization. With him on the brief was Alice O. Martin, of Chicago, Illinois. Of counsel on the brief was Stephan E. Lawton, Vice President and General Counsel, Biotechnology Industry Organization, of Washington, DC.
Steve Z. Szczepanski, Kelley Drye & Warren LLP, of Chicago, Illinois, for amicus curiae Parus Holdings, Inc. With him on the brief was Mary Jo Boldingh.
Frederick A. Tecce, McShea Tecce, P.C., of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for amici curiae McShea Tecce, P.C., et al.
Michael P. Dougherty, Morgan & Finnegan, L.L.P., of New York, New York, for amicus curiae Federal Circuit Bar Association. Of counsel on the brief was Charles F. Schill, President, Federal Circuit Bar Association, of Washington, DC.
Edward D. Manzo, Cook, Alex, McFarron, Manzo, Cummings & Mehler, Ltd., of Chicago, Illinois, for amicus curiae The Intellectual Property Law Association of Chicago. Of counsel with him on the brief were Patrick G. Burns, Greer, Burns & Crain, Ltd., of Chicago, Illinois, Dean A. Monco, Wood, Phillips, Katz, Clark & Mortimer, of Chicago, Illinois, Bradford P. Lyerla, Marshall, Gerstein & Borun, of Chicago, Illinois, and Timothy J. Vezeau, Katten Muchin Zavis Rosenman, of Chicago, Illinois.
Maxim H. Waldbaum, Schiff Hardin LLP, of New York, New York, for amicus curiae Federation Internationale Des Conseils En Propriete Industrielle. Of counsel on the brief was John P. Sutton, of San Francisco, California.
Michael R. Dzwonczyk, Sughrue Mion, PLLC, of Washington, DC, for amicus curiae Sughrue Mion, PLLC. With him on the brief were Frank L. Bernstein of Mountain View, California, and Brandon M. White of Washington, DC.
Sharon A. Israel, Jenkens & Gilchrist, P.C., of Houston, Texas, for amicus curiae Houston Intellectual Property Law Association. Of counsel on the brief were Jeremy P. Welch, Jonathan M. Pierce, and Jeffrey L. Johnson, Conley Rose, P.C., of Houston, Texas.
George C. Summerfield, Jr., Stadheim & Grear, of Chicago, Illinois, for amici curiae The Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, et al. With him on the brief were Joseph A. Grear and Keith A. Vogt.
Bruce M. Wexler, Fitzpatrick, Cella, Harper & Scinto, of New York, New York, for amicus curiae New York Intellectual Property Law Association. With him on the brief were Matthew S. Seidner and John D. Murnane.
Rick D. Nydegger, Workman Nydegger, of Salt Lake City, Utah, for amicus curiae American Intellectual Property Law Association. With him on the brief was David R. Todd. Of counsel on the brief were Denise W. DeFranco, Foley Hoag LLP, of Boston, Massachusetts, and Joseph R. Re and Joseph S. Cianfrani, Knobbe Martens Olson & Bear, of Irvine, California.
Christopher Landau, Kirkland & Ellis LLP, of Washington, DC, for amicus curiae Infineon Technologies North America Corp. With him on the brief were John C. O'Quinn, of Washington, DC, and John M. Desmarais, Gregory S. Arovas, and Michael P. Stadnick, of New York, New York.
Mark I. Levy, Kilpatrick Stockton, LLP, of Washington, DC, for amicus curiae Association of Corporate Counsel. With him on the brief were Anthony B. Askew and Eugene B. Joswick, of Atlanta, Georgia. Of counsel on the brief were Frederick J. Krebs and Susan Hackett of Washington, DC, Nelson A. Blish, Eastman Kodak, of Rochester, New York, John W. Hogan, Jr., Wyeth, of Madison, New Jersey, and Taraneh Maghame, Hewlett Packard, of Cupertino, California.
Mark A. Lemley, Keker & VanNest, LLP, of San Francisco, California, for amici curiae Intel Corporation, et al. With him on the brief were Brian L. Ferrall and Ryan M. Kent.
Erik Paul Belt, Bromberg and Sunstein LLP, of Boston, Massachusetts, for amicus curiae Boston Patent Law Association. Of counsel on the brief was Peter Corless, Edwards and Angell LLP, of Boston, Massachusetts.
Susan M. Dadio, Burns, Doane, Swecker & Mathis, L.L.P., of Alexandria, Virginia, for amicus curiae Bar Association of the District of Columbia-Patent, Trademark & Copyright Section. Of counsel on the brief was Lynn E. Eccleston, The Eccleston Law Firm, of Washington, DC.
W. Thomas McGough, Jr., Reed Smith LLP, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, for amicus curiae Medrad, Inc. With him on the brief were Frederick H. Colen and Barry J. Coyne. Of counsel on the brief was Gregory L. Bradley, Medrad, Inc., of Indianola, Pennsylvania.
Peter A. Sullivan, Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP, of New York, New York, for amicus curiae The Association of the Bar of the City of New York. Of counsel on the brief was Catriona M. Collins, Cowan, Liebowitz & Latman, P.C., of New York, New York.
Anthony R. Zeuli, Merchant & Gould P.C., of Minneapolis, Minnesota, for amicus curiae Association of Patent Law Firms. With him on the brief were Thomas J. Leach, III and Rachel Clark-Hughey. Of counsel on the brief were Scott P. McBride and Christopher R. Carroll, McAndrews, Held & Malloy Ltd., of Chicago, Illinois, and Eric R. Moran, McDonnell, Boehnen, Hulbert & Berghoff LLP, of Chicago, Illinois.
Daniel B. Ravicher, Public Patent Foundation, of New York, New York, for amicus curiae Public Patent Foundation.
Theodore T. Herhold, Townsend and Townsend and Crew LLP, of Palo Alto, California, for amici curiae VISA U.S.A. Inc., et al. With him on the brief were Daniel J. Furniss, Susan M. Spaeth, Madison C. Jellins, and Mark G. Sandbaken.
Mark A. Goldstein, SoCal IP Law Group, of Westlake Village, California, for amicus curiae Conejo Valley Bar Association. With him on the brief were Steven C. Sereboff and Joel G. Landau.
Robert J. Grey, Jr., President, American Bar Association, of Chicago, Illinois, for amicus curiae American Bar Association. With him on the brief was William L. LaFuze. Of counsel on the brief were Donald R. Dunner and Richard L. Rainey, Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner, L.L.P., of Washington, DC.
R. Polk Wagner, University of Pennsylvania Law School, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for amicus curiae Patent Law Professors R. Polk Wagner, et al.
Joshua D. Sarnoff, Washington College of Law, American University, of Washington, DC, for amici curiae Consumers Union, et al.
Laura M. Slenzak, Siemens Corporation, of Auburn Hills, Michigan, for amicus curiae The State Bar of Michigan, Intellectual Property Law Section, joined in the brief of the New York Intellectual Property Law Association.
Lea Hall Speed, Baker, Donelson, Bearman & Caldwell, of Memphis, Tennessee, for amicus curiae Tennessee Bar Association, joined in the brief of the New York Intellectual Property Law Association.
Before MICHEL, Chief Judge, NEWMAN, MAYER, LOURIE, CLEVENGER, RADER, SCHALL, BRYSON, GAJARSA, LINN, DYK, and PROST, Circuit Judges. Opinion for the court filed by Circuit Judge BRYSON, in which Chief Judge MICHEL and Circuit Judges CLEVENGER, RADER, SCHALL, GAJARSA, LINN, DYK, and PROST join; and in which Circuit Judge LOURIE joins with respect to parts I, II, III, V, and VI; and in which Circuit Judge NEWMAN joins with respect to parts I, II, III, and V. Opinion concurring in part and dissenting in part filed by Circuit Judge LOURIE, in which Circuit Judge NEWMAN joins. Dissenting opinion filed by Circuit Judge MAYER, in which Circuit Judge NEWMAN joins.
[Page 1309]
BRYSON, Circuit Judge.
Edward H. Phillips invented modular, steel-shell panels that can be welded together to form vandalism-resistant walls. The panels are especially useful in building prisons because they are load-bearing and impact-resistant, while also insulating against fire and noise. Mr. Phillips obtained a patent on the invention, U.S. Patent No. 4,677,798 ("the '798 patent"), and he subsequently entered into an arrangement with AWH Corporation, Hopeman Brothers, Inc., and Lofton Corporation (collectively "AWH") to market and sell the panels. That arrangement ended in 1990. In 1991, however, Mr. Phillips received a sales brochure from AWH that suggested to him that AWH was continuing to use his trade secrets and patented technology without his consent. In a series of letters in 1991 and 1992, Mr. Phillips accused AWH of patent infringement and trade secret misappropriation. Correspondence between the parties regarding the matter ceased after that time.
In February 1997, Mr. Phillips brought suit in the United States District Court for the District of Colorado charging AWH with misappropriation of trade secrets and infringement of claims 1, 21, 22, 24, 25, and 26 of the '798 patent. Phillips v. AWH Corp., No. 97-N-212 (D. Colo.). The district court dismissed the trade secret misappropriation claim as barred by Colorado's three-year statute of limitations.
With regard to the patent infringement issue, the district court focused on the language of claim 1, which recites "further means disposed inside the shell for increasing its load bearing capacity comprising internal steel baffles extending inwardly from the steel shell walls." The court interpreted that language as "a means . . . for performing a specified function," subject to 35 U.S.C. § 112, paragraph 6, which provides that such a claim "shall be cons trued to cover the corresponding structure, material, or acts described in the specification and equivalents thereof." Looking to the specification of the '798 patent, the court noted that "every textual reference in the Specification and its diagrams show baffle deployment at an angle other than 90 [degree] to the wall faces" and that "placement of the baffles at such angles creates an intermediate interlocking, but not solid, internal barrier." The district court therefore ruled that, for purposes of the '798 patent, a baffle must "extend inward from the steel shell walls at an oblique or acute angle to the wall face" and must form part of an interlocking barrier in the interior of the wall module. Because Mr. Phillips could not prove infringement under that claim construction, the district court granted summary judgment of noninfringement.
Mr. Phillips appealed with respect to both the trade secret and patent infringement claims. A panel of this court affirmed on both issues. Phillips v. AWH Corp., 363 F.3d 1207 (Fed. Cir. 2004). As to the trade secret claim, the panel unanimously upheld the district court's ruling that the claim was barred by the applicable statute of limitations. Id. at 1215. As to the patent infringement claims, the panel was divided. The majority sustained the district court's summary judgment of noninfringement, although on different grounds. The dissenting judge would have reversed the summary judgment of noninfringement.
[Page 1310]
The panel first determined that because the asserted claims of the '798 patent contain a sufficient recitation of structure, the district court erred by construing the term "baffles" to invoke the "means-plus-function" claim format authorized by section 112, paragraph 6. Id. at 1212. Nonetheless, the panel concluded that the patent uses the term "baffles" in a restrictive manner. Based on the patent's written description, the panel held that the claim term "baffles" excludes structures that extend at a 90 degree angle from the walls. The panel noted that the specification repeatedly refers to the ability of the claimed baffles to deflect projectiles and that it describes the baffles as being "disposed at such angles that bullets which might penetrate the outer steel panels are deflected." '798 patent, col. 2, ll. 13-15; see also id. at col. 5, ll. 17-19 (baffles are "disposed at angles which tend to deflect the bullets"). In addition, the panel observed that nowhere in the patent is there any disclosure of a baffle projecting from the wall at a right angle and that baffles oriented at 90 degrees to the wall were found in the prior art. Based on "the specification's explicit descriptions," the panel concluded "that the patentee regarded his invention as panels providing impact or projectile resistance and that the baffles must be oriented at angles other than 90 [degree]." Phillips, 363 F.3d at 1213. The panel added that the patent specification "is intended to support and inform the claims, and here it makes it unmistakably clear that the invention involves baffles angled at other than 90 [degree]." Id. at 1214. The panel therefore upheld the district court's summary judgment of noninfringement.
The dissenting judge argued that the panel had improperly limited the claims to the particular embodiment of the invention disclosed in the specification, rather than adopting the "plain meaning" of the term "baffles." The dissenting judge noted that the parties had stipulated that "baffles" are a "means for obstructing, impeding, or checking the flow of something," and that the panel majority had agreed that the ordinary meaning of baffles is "something for deflecting, checking, or otherwise regulating flow." Phillips, 363 F.3d at 1216-17. In the dissent's view, nothing in the specification redefined the term "baffles" or constituted a disclaimer specifically limiting the term to less than the full scope of its ordinary meaning. Instead, the dissenting judge contended, the specification "merely identifies impact resistance as one of several objectives of the invention." Id. at 1217. In sum, the dissent concluded that "there is no reason to supplement the plain meaning of the claim language with a limitation from the preferred embodiment." Id. at 1218. Consequently, the dissenting judge argued that the court should have adopted the general purpose dictionary definition of the term baffle, i.e., "something for deflecting, checking, or otherwise regulating flow," id., and therefore should have reversed the summary judgment of noninfringement.
This court agreed to rehear the appeal en banc and vacated the judgment of the panel. Phillips v. AWH Corp., 376 F.3d 1382 (Fed. Cir. 2004). We now affirm the portion of the district court's judgment addressed to the trade secret misappropriation claims. However, we reverse the portion of the court's judgment addressed to the issue of infringement.
* Claim 1 of the '798 patent is representative of the asserted claims with respect to the use of the term "baffles. " It recites:
Building modules adapted to fit together for construction of fire, sound and impact resistant security barriers and rooms for use in securing records and [Page 1311] persons, comprising in combination, an outer shell . . . , sealant means . . . and further means disposed inside the shell for increasing its load bearing capacity comprising internal steel baffles extending inwardly from the steel shell walls.
As a preliminary matter, we agree with the panel that the term "baffles" is not means-plus-function language that invokes 35 U.S.C. § 112, paragraph 6. To be sure, the claim refers to "means disposed inside the shell for increasing its load bearing capacity," a formulation that would ordinarily be regarded as invoking the means-plus-function claim format. However, the claim specifically identifies "internal steel baffles" as structure that performs the recited function of increasing the shell's load-bearing capacity. In contrast to the "load bearing means" limitation, the reference to "baffles" does not use the word "means," and we have held that the absence of that term creates a rebuttable presumption that section 112, paragraph 6, does not apply. See Personalized Media Communs., LLC v. ITC, 161 F.3d 696, 703-04 (Fed. Cir. 1998).
Means-plus-function claiming applies only to purely functional limitations that do not provide the structure that performs the recited function. See Watts v. XL Sys., Inc., 232 F.3d 877, 880-81 (Fed. Cir. 2000). While the baffles in the '798 patent are clearly intended to perform several functions, the term "baffles" is nonetheless structural; it is not a purely functional placeholder in which structure is filled in by the specification. See TurboCare Div. of Demag Delaval Turbomachinery Corp. v. GE, 264 F.3d 1111, 1121 (Fed. Cir. 2001) (reasoning that nothing in the specification or prosecution history suggests that the patentee used the term "compressed spring" to denote any structure that is capable of performing the specified function); Greenberg v. Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Inc., 91 F.3d 1580, 1583 (Fed. Cir. 1996) (construing the term "detent mechanism" to refer to particular structure, even though the term has functional connotations). The claims and the specification unmistakably establish that the "steel baffles" refer to particular physical apparatus. The claim characterizes the baffles as "extending inwardly" from the steel shell walls, which plainly implies that the baffles are structures. The specification likewise makes clear that the term "steel baffles" refers to particular internal wall structures and is not simply a general description of any structure that will perform a particular function. See, e.g., '798 patent, col. 4, ll. 25-26 ("the load bearing baffles 16 are optionally used with longer panels"); id., col. 4, ll. 49-50 (opposing panels are "compressed between the flange 35 and the baffle 26"). Because the term "baffles" is not subject to section 112, paragraph 6, we agree with the panel that the district court erred by limiting the term to corresponding structures disclosed in the specification and their equivalents. Accordingly, we must determine the correct construction of the structural term "baffles," as used in the '798 patent.
II
The first paragraph of section 112 of the Patent Act, 35 U.S.C. § 112, states that the specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains . . . to make and use the same . . . .
The second paragraph of section 112 provides that the specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly [Page 1312] claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Those two paragraphs of section 112 frame the issue of claim interpretation for us. The second paragraph requires us to look to the language of the claims to determine what "the applicant regards as his invention." On the other hand, the first paragraph requires that the specification describe the invention set forth in the claims. The principal question that this case presents to us is the extent to which we should resort to and rely on a patent's specification in seeking to ascertain the proper scope of its claims.
This is hardly a new question. The role of the specification in claim construction has been an issue in patent law decisions in this country for nearly two centuries. We addressed the relationship between the specification and the claims at some length in our en banc opinion in Markman v. Westview Instruments, Inc., 52 F.3d 967, 979-81 (Fed. Cir. 1995) (en banc), aff'd, 517 U.S. 370, 134 L. Ed. 2d 577, 116 S. Ct. 1384 (1996). We again summarized the applicable principles in Vitronics Corp. v. Conceptronic, Inc., 90 F.3d 1576 (Fed. Cir. 1996), and more recently in Innova/Pure Water, Inc. v. Safari Water Filtration Systems, Inc., 381 F.3d 1111 (Fed. Cir. 2004). What we said in those cases bears restating, for the basic principles of claim construction outlined there are still applicable, and we reaffirm them today. We have also previously considered the use of dictionaries in claim construction. What we have said in that regard requires clarification.
* It is a "bedrock principle" of patent law that "the claims of a patent define the invention to which the patentee is entitled the right to exclude." Innova, 381 F.3d at 1115; see also Vitronics, 90 F.3d at 1582 ("we look to the words of the claims themselves . . . to define the scope of the patented invention"); Markman, 52 F.3d at 980 ("The written description part of the specification itself does not delimit the right to exclude. That is the function and purpose of claims."). That principle has been recognized since at least 1836, when Congress first required that the specification include a portion in which the inventor "shall particularly specify and point out the part, improvement, or combination, which he claims as his own invention or discovery." Act of July 4, 1836, ch. 357, § 6, 5 Stat. 117, 119. In the following years, the Supreme Court made clear that the claims are "of primary importance, in the effort to ascertain precisely what it is that is patented." Merrill v. Yeomans, 94 U.S. 568, 570, 24 L. Ed. 235, 1877 Dec. Comm'r Pat. 279 (1876). Because the patentee is required to "define precisely what his invention is," the Court explained, it is "unjust to the public, as well as an evasion of the law, to construe it in a manner different from the plain import of its terms." White v. Dunbar, 119 U.S. 47, 52, 30 L. Ed. 303, 7 S. Ct. 72, 1886 Dec. Comm'r Pat. 494 (1886); see also Cont'l Paper Bag Co. v. E. Paper Bag Co., 210 U.S. 405, 419, 52 L. Ed. 1122, 28 S. Ct. 748, 1908 Dec. Comm'r Pat. 594 (1908) ("the claims measure the invention"); McCarty v. Lehigh Valley R.R. Co., 160 U.S. 110, 116, 40 L. Ed. 358, 16 S. Ct. 240, 1895 Dec. Comm'r Pat. 721 (1895) ("if we once begin to include elements not mentioned in the claim, in order to limit such claim . . . , we should never know where to stop"); Aro Mfg. Co. v. Convertible Top Replacement Co., 365 U.S. 336, 339, 5 L. Ed. 2d 592, 81 S. Ct. 599, 1961 Dec. Comm'r Pat. 635 (1961) ("the claims made in the patent are the sole measure of the grant").
We have frequently stated that the words of a claim "are generally given their ordinary and customary meaning." Vitronics, 90 F.3d at 1582; see also Toro Co. v. White Consol. Indus., Inc., 199 F.3d 1295, 1299 (Fed. Cir. 1999); Renishaw PLC [Page 1313] v. Marposs Societa' per Azioni, 158 F.3d 1243, 1249 (Fed. Cir. 1998). We have made clear, moreover, that the ordinary and customary meaning of a claim term is the meaning that the term would have to a person of ordinary skill in the art in question at the time of the invention, i.e., as of the effective filing date of the patent application. See Innova, 381 F.3d at 1116 ("A court construing a patent claim seeks to accord a claim the meaning it would have to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention."); Home Diagnostics, Inc. v. LifeScan, Inc., 381 F.3d 1352, 1358 (Fed. Cir. 2004) ("customary meaning" refers to the "customary meaning in [the] art field"); Ferguson Beauregard/Logic Controls v. Mega Sys., LLC, 350 F.3d 1327, 1338 (Fed. Cir. 2003) (claim terms "are examined through the viewing glass of a person skilled in the art"); see also PC Connector Solutions LLC v. SmartDisk Corp., 406 F.3d 1359, 1363 (Fed. Cir. 2005) (meaning of cl aim "must be interpreted as of [the] effective filing date" of the patent application); Schering Corp. v. Amgen Inc., 222 F.3d 1347, 1353 (Fed. Cir. 2000) (same).
The inquiry into how a person of ordinary skill in the art understands a claim term provides an objective baseline from which to begin claim interpretation. See Innova, 381 F.3d at 1116. That starting point is based on the well-settled understanding that inventors are typically persons skilled in the field of the invention and that patents are addressed to and intended to be read by others of skill in the pertinent art. See Verve, LLC v. Crane Cams, Inc., 311 F.3d 1116, 1119 (Fed. Cir. 2002) (patent documents are meant to be "a concise statement for persons in the field"); In re Nelson, 47 C.C.P.A. 1031, 280 F.2d 172, 181, 1960 Dec. Comm'r Pat. 369 (CCPA 1960) ("The descriptions in patents are not addressed to the public generally, to lawyers or to judges, but, as section 112 says, to those skilled in the art to which the invention pertains or with which it is most nearly connected.").
Importantly, the person of ordinary skill in the art is deemed to read the claim term not only in the context of the particular claim in which the disputed term appears, but in the context of the entire patent, including the specification. This court explained that point well in Multiform Desiccants, Inc. v. Medzam, Ltd., 133 F.3d 1473, 1477 (Fed. Cir. 1998):
It is the person of ordinary skill in the field of the invention through whose eyes the claims are construed. Such person is deemed to read the words used in the patent documents with an understanding of their meaning in the field, and to have knowledge of any special meaning and usage in the field. The inventor's words that are used to describe the invention--the inventor's lexicography--must be understood and interpreted by the court as they would be understood and interpreted by a person in that field of technology. Thus the court starts the decisionmaking process by reviewing the same resources as would that person, viz., the patent specification and the prosecution history.
See also Medrad, Inc. v. MRI Devices Corp., 401 F.3d 1313, 1319 (Fed. Cir. 2005) ("We cannot look at the ordinary meaning of the term . . . in a vacuum. Rather, we must look at the ordinary meaning in the context of the written description and the prosecution history."); V-Formation, Inc. v. Benetton Group SpA, 401 F.3d 1307, 1310 (Fed. Cir. 2005) (intrinsic record "usually provides the technological and temporal context to enable the court to ascertain the meaning of the claim to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention"); Unitherm Food Sys., Inc. v. Swift-Eckrich, Inc., 375 F.3d 1341, 1351 [Page 1314] (Fed. Cir. 2004) (proper definition is the "definition that one of ordinary skill in the art could ascertain from the intrinsic evidence in the record").
B
In some cases, the ordinary meaning of claim language as understood by a person of skill in the art may be readily apparent even to lay judges, and claim construction in such cases involves little more than the application of the widely accepted meaning of commonly understood words. See Brown v. 3M,265 F.3d 1349, 1352 (Fed Cir. 2001) (holding that the claims did "not require elaborate interpretation"). In such circumstances, general purpose dictionaries may be helpful. In many cases that give rise to litigation, however, determining the ordinary and customary meaning of the claim requires examination of terms that have a particular meaning in a field of art. Because the meaning of a claim term as understood by persons of skill in the art is often not immediately apparent, and because patentees frequently use terms idiosyncratically, the court looks to "those sources available to the public that show what a person of skill in the art would have understood disputed claim language to mean." Innova, 381 F.3d at 1116. Those sources include "the words of the claims themselves, the remainder of the specification, the prosecution history, and extrinsic evidence concerning relevant scientific principles, the meaning of technical terms, and the state of the art." Id.; see also Gemstar-TV Guide Int'l, Inc. v. ITC, 383 F.3d 1352, 1364 (Fed. Cir. 2004); Vitronics, 90 F.3d at 1582-83; Markman, 52 F.3d at 979-80.
* Quite apart from the written description and the prosecution history, the claims themselves provide substantial guidance as to the meaning of particular claim terms. See Vitronics, 90 F.3d at 1582; see also ACTV, Inc. v. Walt Disney Co., 346 F.3d 1082, 1088 (Fed. Cir. 2003) ("the context of the surrounding words of the claim also must be considered in determining the ordinary and customary meaning of those terms").
To begin with, the context in which a term is used in the asserted claim can be highly instructive. To take a simple example, the claim in this case refers to "steel baffles," which strongly implies that the term "baffles" does not inherently mean objects made of steel. This court's cases provide numerous similar examples in which the use of a term within the claim provides a firm basis for construing the term. See, e.g., Mars, Inc. v. H.J. Heinz Co., 377 F.3d 1369, 1374 (Fed. Cir. 2004) (claim term "ingredients" construed in light of the use of the term "mixture" in the same claim phrase); Process Control Corp. v. HydReclaim Corp., 190 F.3d 1350, 1356 (Fed. Cir. 1999) (claim term "discharge rate" construed in light of the use of the same term in another limitation of the same claim).
Other claims