H-W Tech., L.C. v. Overstock.com, Inc., No. 14-1054 (Fed. Cir. 2014)
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H-W, the owner of the 955 patent, sued Overstock, alleging that Overstock’s smartphone application infringed claims 9 and 17 of the patent, relating to an apparatus and method for performing “contextual searches on an Internet Protocol (IP) Phone.” According to the specification of the 955 patent, “[a]n IP Phone is a telephone which can operate and execute voice communication in the same way as conventional telephones either via a Plain Old Telephone System (POTS) or an IP network.” H-W filed suit in March 2012 and submitted infringement contentions in July. In October, Overstock notified H-W that claim 9, as issued, was missing a limitation. In late May 2013 H-W obtained a certificate of correction from the PTO and submitted it to the district court. The parties had completed summary judgment and claim construction briefing. A few months later, the district court construed the claims and granted summary judgment of invalidity, holding that the claims were indefinite. H-W appealed construction of “user of said phone” and “said user” in claim 17 to mean “a consumer operating the IP Phone” The Federal Circuit affirmed as modified, holding that that the district court correctly held claim 17 invalid but erred in holding corrected claim 9 invalid.
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