Narrow Claim Construction Where Claim Could Have Been Drafted More Clearly

Addressing the issue of claim construction, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit found that a lower court erred in its claim construction while affirming a finding that the plaintiff did not release its infringement claim as a part of an earlier settlement agreement asserted by the defendant as a basis for an affirmative defense. Howmedica Osteonics Corp., v. Wright Medical Technology, Inc., Case No. 07-1363 (Fed. Cir., Sept. 2, 2008) (Dyk, C.J.; Prost, C.J. dissenting).

Howmedica is the owner of a patent with claims to an artificial knee prosthesis to replace part or all of the knee joint. Claim 15, the only independent claim asserted, recites a knee prosthesis with a "femoral component including at least one condylar element" and requires that the condylar element have a certain geometry. The parties had agreed that claim 15 can cover a unicondylar prosthesis, where only one artificial condyle is employed and one natural condyle remains. However, based