Opinion ID: 786974
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Opening for Connecting

Text: 40 TI Group next contends that the district court's definition of the term an opening for connecting the interior of the reservoir to the interior of the fuel tank is unduly narrow. The district court concluded that the phrase means an aperture disposed adjacent to both the interior of the reservoir and the interior of the fuel tank, allowing fuel from the fuel tank to be entrained directly into the reservoir. Markman Order at 2. TI Group argues that this construction simply ignores the ordinary and customary meanings of the words and is inconsistent with the written description. VDO contends that the district court's construction is proper, based on the meanings of the terms and based on the notion that without the additional requirements, the claim limitation would be meaningless. We agree with TI Group. 41 The parties do not disagree about the general meanings of the terms at issue. An opening is a gap, hole, or passage; an aperture. 10 The Oxford English Dictionary 845 (2d ed. 1989). To connect is to join, fasten, or link together usually by means of something intervening. Webster's at 480. Thus, the ordinary and customary meaning of the limitation requires only that there be a hole, passage, or aperture for joining or linking the interior of the reservoir to the exterior of the reservoir. Nothing in the ordinary and customary meaning of the term, nor in the written description, requires that the aperture be disposed adjacent to both the interior of the reservoir and the interior of the fuel tank. VDO's other arguments have no merit. The correct construction of an opening for connecting the interior of the reservoir to the interior of the fuel tank requires only that the interior of the reservoir and the interior of the fuel tank be joined or linked by a hole, passage, or aperture.