Edited by Paul Devinsky and Rita Weeks
Patents / Claim Construction
Guidance on Construing Claim Construction, a.k.a.
Diminutive Claim Construction
by Rose Whelan
Addressing the issue of construing language in a claim
construction order (language not found in the claims), the U.S.
Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit reversed a finding of
non-infringement based on incorrect claim construction.
Advanced Fiber Technologies v. J & L Fiber Services,
Case No. 11-1243 (Fed. Cir., April 3, 2012) (Lourie J.) (Dyk, J.
dissenting-in-part).
The patented technology in this appeal involved screening
devices used in the pulp and paper industry. The three independent
claims of the asserted patent include the term "screening
medium" or its synonym "screening plate." The
district court constructed "screening medium" as a
"perforated barrier through which stock is passed to
remove oversized, troublesome, and unwanted particles from good
fiber." At AFT's request the
