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By Howard J. Shire and Daniel Shea
January 31, 2016

Federal Circuit: Even If Experts on Both Sides Agreed on an Altered Claim Construction During Trial, Relying on That More Detailed Claim Interpretation During JMOL Is an Impermissible Reconstruction

On Jan. 8, 2016, a Federal Circuit panel of Circuit Judges Reyna, Wallach, and Hughes issued a unanimous opinion, authored by Judge Reyna, in Wi-LAN, Inc. v. Apple Inc., Case No. 2014-1437, -1485. The panel affirmed the district court's denial of JMOL of non-infringement, but reversed the district court's grant of JMOL of no invalidity.

Wi-LAN first sued Apple in district court, along with a handful of other technology companies, asserting that its patent was embodied in several wireless communication standards, which Apple's products complied with. The district court held a Markman hearing and construed “first computing means” as “element 12 of Figures 1 and 4, columns 2:6'10, 2:36'40, 2:58'62, 4:2'12, and 4:35'44, and equivalents thereof.” Slip Op. at 6. The parties agreed on this construction, which was the same construction used in a related previous litigation. During claim construction in the previous litigation, Wi-LAN, Inc. v. Acer, Inc., No. 2:07-CV-473-TJW, Dkt. No. 469 (E.D. Tex. May 11, 2010), the court had refused to include the “complex randomizer” as part of the “first computing means” structure, and Wi-LAN did not argue for the inclusion of a complex randomizer in this case. Id.

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