Uship Intellectual Props., LLC v. United States, No. 12-5077 (Fed. Cir. 2013)
Annotate this CaseUship’s patents are directed to systems and methods of processing packages for shipment. According to the shared specification, the invention fills the need “for a system which accepts and stores items for subsequent pick-up by a commercial carrier.” The claims at issue recite “[a] method of mailing parcels and envelopes using an automated shipping machine” in the preamble. The claims comprise several similar or identical steps, including “receiving payment information from a customer”; “receiving package type information identifying a parcel . . . to be mailed”; “printing a shipping label”; and “validating receipt of said parcel . . . as the parcel . . . for which said . . . label was printed.” In Uship’s infringement action, the Court of Federal Claims found that “only an automated machine can perform” the validating step. On reconsideration, the court explained that its construction was based on both the specification and the prosecution history. After claim construction, the parties stipulated to a judgment of noninfringement. The Federal Circuit affirmed.
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