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ARTICLE · 10 DECEMBER 2007

Means-Plus-Function Clause Covering Software Is Definite If The Corresponding Algorithmic Structure Is Understandable To One Skilled In The Art

McDermott Will & Emery
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The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit overturned a summary judgment of indefiniteness of a claim containing means-plus-function clauses covering software.

United StatesIntellectual Property
Thomas George
Thomas George
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The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit overturned a summary judgment of indefiniteness of a claim containing means-plus-function (M+F) clauses covering software, holding that the specification of algorithms performing the claimed function "need only disclose adequate defining structure to render the bounds of the claim understandable to one of ordinary skill in the art." Allvoice Computing PLC v. Nuance Communications, Inc., Case No. 06-1440 (Fed. Cir., Oct. 12, 2007) (Rader, J.).

Allvoice owns a patent that covers an interface between a speech recognition engine and various end-user application programs (e.g., word processing programs). Specifically, when a user speaks into a computer’s microphone, the speech recognition engine converts the speech to recognized words. The recognized words are then processed by the claimed interface to output the recognized words in a format understandable by multiple application programs. In addition, link data associating the original

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