Opinion ID: 2230069
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: markman hearing on claim construction

Text: In its first assignment of error, New Tek asserts that the court erred in holding a Markman hearing to construe the '080 patent. Instead, New Tek argues that the construction of the patent claims should have been given to a jury. The Federal Circuit held in Markman v. Westview Instruments, Inc., 52 F.3d 967 (Fed.Cir.1995) ( Markman I ), affirmed 517 U.S. 370, 116 S.Ct. 1384, 134 L.Ed.2d 577 (1996) ( Markman II ), that claim construction is a matter of law and that the court has the power and obligation to construe as a matter of law the meaning of the language used in the patent claim. See, also, Neb.Rev.Stat. § 25-1104 (Reissue 1995) ([i]ssues of law must be tried by the court). Markman I and II have established, in practice, a bifurcated procedure for patent infringement cases, in which the court first determines the scope and meaning of the patent claims asserted, and then the properly construed claims are compared to the allegedly infringing device. See Cybor Corp. v. FAS Technologies, Inc., 138 F.3d 1448 (Fed.Cir.1998). The construction of a patent, including terms of art within its claim, is exclusively within the province of the court. See, Markman II; Cybor Corp., supra . New Tek does not dispute that rule; rather, New Tek argues that Markman hearings did not exist prior to the Markman I decision and, thus, should not be applied in this action because any action against Orthman Manufacturing to enforce the '080 patent would have taken place prior to the Markman I decision. But New Tek's argument that Markman I represented a change in the law is contrary to the Federal Circuit's decision in that case. New Tek contends that prior to Markman I, claim construction was a jury question. However, in Markman I, the court explained that its opinions had contained some inconsistent statements as to whether, and to what extent, claim construction was a legal or factual issue. Compare, e.g., Tol-O-Matic v. Proma Produkt-Und Marketing, 945 F.2d 1546 (Fed.Cir.1991), abrogated, Markman I; Unique Concepts, Inc. v. Brown, 939 F.2d 1558 (Fed.Cir.1991). New Tek cites only cases implying that claim construction was a question of fact and fails to acknowledge the second line of Federal Circuit opinions discussed in Markman I, which held that claim construction was a question of law for the court. But the Federal Circuit resolved that split in authority by noting that [n]otwithstanding the apparent inconsistencies in our opinions, the Supreme Court has repeatedly held that the construction of a patent claim is a matter of law exclusively for the court. Markman I, 52 F.3d at 977 (citing cases). New Tek's argument that Markman I was a change in the law is incorrect. While, as the Markman I court explained, there were Federal Circuit decisions containing erroneous statements of law, there was an equally authoritative line of decisions to the contrary, and most significantly, the U.S. Supreme Court had decided the matter in favor of the holding reaffirmed in Markman I. Pursuant to the U.S. Supreme Court's established precedent, claim construction was a matter of law to be decided by the court, even prior to the Federal Circuit's decision in Markman I. Thus, even assuming that New Tek is correct in contending that a change in the law should not be applied retroactively, the district court did not err in applying the Markman I holding in the present case. New Tek also argues that a state court should refrain from holding a Markman hearing, because state courts are inexperienced in patent claim construction. This argument is meritless for two reasons. First, New Tek does not explain how asking a jury to decide issues of claim construction solves the problem of alleged inexperience. Absent the unlikely circumstance of a venire composed entirely of mechanical engineers and patent lawyers, a jury would be at least equally inexperienced. Second, the fact that patent law does not regularly appear on our docket does not change our responsibility to decide the issues presented to us under the applicable law. It is well established that claim construction is a question of law for a court to decide, and we will faithfully discharge that duty. We, therefore, reject New Tek's first assignment of error.