Opinion ID: 2810823
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: “direct current blocking means”

Text: The district court initially construed the term “direct current blocking means” to be governed by § 112 ¶ 6. The district court then determined that a capacitor or diode was the disclosed corresponding structure. The district court later amended this construction to indicate that this term requires that each set of output terminals be connected to a DC blocking capacitor. J.A. 58. ULT argues that the district court erred when it modified its construction of the “direct current blocking means” term by improperly adding a requirement that each set of output terminals be connected to a DC blocking capacitor. ULT argues that without this limitation on the claim, it is clear that the asserted claims are anticipated by two prior art references: JP 1-157099 (“JP ’099”) and JP 61-153997 (“JP ’997”). Lighting Ballast counters that ULT failed to preserve any issues related to JP ’099 for appeal by not raising 16 LIGHTING BALLAST CONTROL LLC v. PHILIPS ELECTRONICS NORTH AMERICA JP ’099 before the jury. Lighting Ballast also contends that ULT’s arguments fail on the merits. 2 As noted above, where the issue raised in a motion for summary judgment is a pure question of law or, as in the case of claim construction, an issue for the court to decide, the denial of a party’s motion for summary judgment generally results in a reciprocal grant of summary judgment to the other party. For issues of fact like anticipation, on the other hand, the denial of a motion for summary judgment usually only indicates that there are questions of fact to be resolved. In this case, the parties treated the district court’s denial of ULT’s motion for summary judgment of invalidity as though it was a grant of a motion for summary judgment of no anticipation based on JP ’099, see J.A. 5234, even though no such motion was ever filed. Anticipation is a question of fact that is ultimately for the jury to decide. While ULT argues it could not have prevailed on its anticipation defense if operating under the district court’s amended claim construction, we have no factual record upon which to assess that argument. We conclude that, absent a stipulation between the parties regarding anticipation, ULT had to present the question to the jury in order to preserve its right to raise it before us. We turn to the issue of anticipation by JP ’997. The district court construed “direct current blocking means” as requiring a capacitor or diode at every output terminal. Because JP ’997 does not disclose a capacitor or diode at every output terminal, the district court concluded that a 2 Lighting Ballast also makes a summary argument without citation that ULT waived any arguments regarding dependent claims 2 and 5 by failing to appeal the judgment of validity of these claims. We decline to address this arguments given the insufficient explanation and lack of legal basis supporting the argument. LIGHTING BALLAST CONTROL LLC v. PHILIPS ELECTRONICS 17 NORTH AMERICA material fact existed as to whether JP ’997 anticipates the claims. The parties disputed the issue at trial, and the jury returned a verdict of no anticipation. The parties agree that the term “direct current blocking means” is governed by § 112 ¶ 6. The parties also agree that the corresponding structure is a collection of capacitors or diodes. The only point of disagreement is whether the structure requires a capacitor/diode coupled to every set of output terminals or only those through which the DC control signal passes and whether, under the correct construction, JP ’997 anticipates the asserted claims. ULT has failed to show reversible error in the district court’s construction of the term “direct current blocking means.” Claim 1 recites “output terminals” and a “direct current blocking means coupled to the output terminals . . . .” The plain language of the claims requires a direct current blocking means at every output terminal. Under the district court’s construction, the jury’s verdict is supported by substantial evidence. At trial, Dr. Zane testified that JP ’997 does not teach a DC blocking means attached to each of the output terminals. J.A. 13340-41. Dr. Giesselmann failed to offer any testimony regarding structural equivalency. As such, we hold that the district court’s construction of “direct current blocking means” was not erroneous, and that the jury’s verdict of no anticipation is supported by substantial evidence.