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Posted on 06/02/2014 9:24:10 AM PDT by BuckeyeTexan
(Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday threw out a lower court decision in a patent fight over heart rate monitors, a decision that will affect other patent infringement fights.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
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Is this a double negative or triple negative ??
What does this mean to the real world.
It means that you had better write patent applications better if you want to stifle competition and innovation.
It means that SCOTUS vacated (and remanded) the Federal Circuit’s opinion. Biosig won and Nautilus lost in the Federal Circuit.
“We conclude that the Federal Circuit’s formulation, which tolerates some ambiguous claims but not others, does not satisfy the statute’s definiteness requirement. In place of the “insolubly ambiguous” standard, we hold that a patent is invalid for indefiniteness if its claims, read in light of the specification delineating the patent, and the prosecution history, fail to inform, with reasonable certainty, those skilled in the art about the scope of the invention.”
I gather it means one cannot write a vague patent, and then claim anyone who infringes on the principles is violating your patent. But that is just my guess...
http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/13pdf/13-369_k53m.pdf
That was my take also. Gotta be able to show a specific infringement not a general/vague infringement.
Looks like all this means is that the Federal Circuit’s new rule that a claim can have some ambiguity short of total ambiguity is tossed out. The law remains essentially the same, and it’s remanded.
Look for longer patents as some description or example is provided for every element of every claim. Big picture - reading the claim element in dispute - “spaced relationship” should have been easily understood by one skilled in the art when comparing the claimed invention to the prior art.
Short conclusion - costs for patent preparation just went up.
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