KRATZ, QUINTOS & HANSON, LLP

IP Newsletter

IP Newsletter Volume VIII, Issue No. 4

Championing Our Clients’ Innovations Since 1970

Volume VIII, No. 4

A CLAIM THAT INCLUDES A COMPUTER-IMPLEMENTED MEANS-PLUS-FUNCTION TERM IS INDEFINITE IF THE ONLY SUPPORT IT HAS IN THE SPECIFICATION IS DESCRIBED AS A “CONVENTIONAL MICROPROCESSOR” THAT PERFORMS IN A “CONVENTIONAL MANNER”

By: Mel R. Quintos

 

On June 13, 2014, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit decided the case of Triton Tech of Texas, LLC v. Nintendo of America, Inc., Triton Tech having appealed a district court’s judgment that the means-plus-function term “integrator means” renders the claims of Triton’s U.S. Patent No. 5,181,181 invalid for indefiniteness under 35 U.S.C. §112.

 

Triton sued Nintendo alleging that Nintendo’s Wii RemoteTM, when used with another accessory, infringes Triton’s patent. An element in the claimed input device of a representative claim recites:

 

integrator means associated with said input device for integrating said acceleration signals over time to produce velocity signals for linear translation along each of . . . first, second and third axes. [Emphasis added.–click here to read more