By Dennis Crouch
Nautilus v. Biosig (Supreme Court 2014) [Transcript of Oral Arguments]
On April 28, 2014, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the important indefiniteness case concerning a fitness monitor patent. In my estimation, most issued patents have claim terms that are arguably indefinite. The usual litigation resolution of that problem is through the process of claim construction. The patent statute requires A patent can be held invalid as indefinite under 35 U.S.C. §112(b) for failing to “particularly point[] out and distinctly claim[]” the invention. However, the Federal Circuit has repeatedly found that the invalid-as-indefinite doctrine is quite narrow and only applies when a term is “insolubly ambiguous” and when “reasonable efforts at claim construction result in a definition that does not provide sufficient particularity and clarity to inform skilled artisans of the bounds of the claim.”
The result of this policy is that it provides patentees an incentive to seek a claimset that includes some “solubly” ambiguous terms that create colorable infringement argument and whose scope retains malleability. We only learn the true scope of a claim once it is interpreted in court – an often only after an appeal to the Federal Circuit. One approach to push against this downward spiral would be to follow the contract canon of construing claims against the drafter. Another approach is what Nautilus suggests – make it easier to invalidate claims on indefiniteness grounds. At the same time, lowering the standard could open the door to a new intensity of linguistic-noodling by accused infringers.
In this case, two questions are presented:
1. Does the Federal Circuit’s acceptance of ambiguous patent claims with multiple reasonable interpretations—so long as the ambiguity is not “insoluble” by a court—defeat the statutory requirement of particular and distinct patent claiming?
2. Does the presumption of validity dilute the requirement of particular and distinct patent claiming?
Claim construction is an issue in the vast majority of patent infringement lawsuits and, over the years, the Federal Circuit has altered a district court’s claim construction in hundreds of different cases. In many of those, the district court’s opinion was a reasonable interpretation of the claim scope even if not what the Federal Circuit saw as the very best interpretation. In that framework, it is easy to see how the Nautilus focus on “multiple reasonable interpretations” could have a dramatic impact on the validity since all of those claims would seemingly be invalidated based upon the existence of multiple reasonable interpretations.
Predicting Outcome: The oral arguments suggest that the Federal Circuit’s “insolubly ambiguous” test will be thrown out as too strict. However, none of the Justices appeared interested in the seemingly too loose rule that would invalidate claims that are open to multiple reasonable interpretations. The middle ground of requiring claim scope be of “reasonable certainty” seems to be the likely course.
The claim term at issue in this case involves two electrodes of a heart monitor being in a “spaced relationship” with each other. The district court held that term indefinite because the patent did not include any parameters as to the scope of that space. On appeal, the Federal Circuit reversed, determining that the term was amenable to construction since the purpose of the space was recited in a whereby clause (to help remove EMG signals coming from a single hand). In particular, the court held that the term had an upper and lower bound: each half must be held within a hand and it cannot physically be infinitesimally small. Now, one interesting aspect that relates to prior functional-claim cases is that on reexamination, the examiner found that the functional whereby clause to be the crucial limitation that made the claim patentable. Federal Circuit cited and discussed Halliburton. However, the court did not address the Taboo against functional element at the point of novelty but instead cited to a list of Federal Circuit decisions holding that functional claim limitations are just fine.
The arguments: Patent litigator John Vandenberg argued on behalf of the petitioner Nautilus while appellate specialist Mark Harris argued for the patentee Biosig. Harris shared time with US Assistant Solicitor Curtis Gannon as amicus. Overall, the oral arguments were not highly elucidating the one major area of new ground covered was an analogy to Chevron analysis whose first step is to determine whether a statute is ambiguous (or silent) as to a particular issue. In Chevron, statutory ambiguity allows government agencies more leeway in interpreting the law. In this context, the ambiguity would lead to a patent being held invalid. However, the court was clearly not comfortable with that test essentially because it is too loose for the resulting reaction (patent invalidity). Of course, invalidating a patent claim does not involve the same level of drama as invalidating a congressionally mandated statute. Apart from the constitutional-political issues, the patent claim being invalidated is typically one of many claims within the patent and that patent is one of many covering the accused activity. In addition, unlike statutes, the party benefiting most from the patent has full control of the language used in the patent grant.
In the oral arguments, Vandenberg makes two compelling points: (1) that ambiguity in the patents is intentional but not justified; and (2) that its requested rule is parallel to that already applied by the USPTO:
MR. VANDENBERG: I think it’s important to remember here that there is no legitimate need or excuse for ambiguity in patent claims. Once the applicant has satisfied paragraph one [of section 112] and its strict requirements for describing the invention, it is easy to claim the invention particularly and distinctly. The only reason that there are so many ambiguous claims out there today is that patent attorneys are trained to deliberately include ambiguous claims. Ambiguous claims make the patent monopoly more valuable. Every patent attorney knows that. . . .
There is no legitimate need for ambiguous claims. There is a strong economic incentive for patent attorneys to draft ambiguous claims, not to put all their eggs in that basket. They want some clear claims in case some copyist comes along, but they want ambiguous claims so they can their client can treat it as a nose of wax later, as happened here. That is well established in the patent bar, that there is this strong economic incentive. But patent attorneys have ample tools to avoid ambiguous claims if this Court tells them that it will no longer be permitted. That that is the key here, is that there’s a strong economic incentive. The patent attorney and the inventor are in the best position to avoid the ambiguity that Congress prohibits and therefore, the problem is, the Federal Circuit has blessed ambiguity with its test. And in order to stop all of the problems that the amici have pointed out that are caused by ambiguous claims, we submit this Court needs to be clear and go back to United Carbon and General Electric and to the statutory text and be clear that ambiguity is simply not permitted.
After a bit of dancing, Vandenberg began to hit his stride in a discussion with Justice Kennedy:
JUSTICE KENNEDY: Do you agree that the standard at the PTO, and let’s say that it’s whether or not the claim is definite if a person skilled in the art would be reasonably certain of its scope. Is the standard used by the PTO the same standard that the CA Fed ought to use?
MR. VANDENBERG: Yes, it is, Your Honor.
JUSTICE KENNEDY: All right, that’s a sensible answer, I think. Now, how does the presumption of validity bear on the application of that same standard in the court of appeals?
MR. VANDENBERG: The presumption of validity certain applies to this defense. It requires the challenger to raise the defense, to preserve the defense, plead it as affirmative defense, to make the initial argument as to why the claim is
JUSTICE KENNEDY: Doesn’t that imply some deference on findings of fact?
MR. VANDENBERG: Your Honor, it would be rare for there to be, in an indefiniteness case, to be any underlying finding of fact. The the issue of indefiniteness is really subsidiary.
JUSTICE KENNEDY: That is, the presumption of validity, does that accord some deference to the PTO? And how would that apply or not apply here?
MR. VANDENBERG: It would apply it does not apply in this case. There are no fact findings out of the Patent Office regarding indefiniteness. But if there was the same indefiniteness issue came up and the Patent Office found, for instance, that a term of art, let’s say nanotechnology, biotechnology term of art had a particular meaning, then that factfinding may be entitled to deference by the trial court.
However, indefiniteness itself is a legal determination. The Federal Circuit said that.
JUSTICE KENNEDY: So there’s no deference to the PTO as to that legal interpretation.
MR. VANDENBERG: No, Your Honor, no more than there’d be deference to the Patent Office claim construction or any other legal decision.
Mr. Harris began his argument defending the Federal Circuit, but immediately ran from the insolubly ambiguous language of that decision.
MR. HARRIS: The decision of the Federal Circuit should be affirmed for two reasons: First, that court correctly held that the test for definiteness is whether a claim puts a skilled artisan on reasonable notice of the boundaries of the invention, and secondly, whatever
JUSTICE SCALIA: If that’s what it held we wouldn’t have taken this case. I thought we took it because [the Federal Circuit used] some really extravagant language.
I mean, it’s one thing to run away from that language, as your brief does. It’s another thing to deny that it exists.
MR. HARRIS: Justice Scalia, we are not denying that those words exist, “insolubly ambiguous,” but what I think this court below, the Federal Circuit, in this case explained, and it’s explained consistently, is that that those two words are not the test all by themselves.
CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS: So it was fair, as I suggested earlier, nobody agrees with that formulation [of insolubly ambiguous]?
MR. HARRIS: Yes, I guess so, Your Honor. . . .
Beyond the particular quibble over language, Harris seems to provide a convincing case that, even under a lower standard, the Biosig claims are still definite because of the uncontroverted evidence provided that one skilled in the art at the time would have been able to understand the meaning of the claim.
The role of the US Government in this case is interesting because it is in some tension with President Obama’s ongoing initiatives to push for clarity in claim scope. However, Gannon (from USDOJ) did argue that the presumption of validity should not play a role in the claim construction process. And rather that the resulting validity of a claim should not impact which construction is chosen.