Opinion ID: 775954
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Legal Preclusion of the Doctrine of Equivalents

Text: 26 Infinite argues that Interactive is estopped from asserting infringement by equivalents for two reasons. First, Infinite contends that Interactive narrowed the image transform processor means limitation during prosecution by replacing the words output signals with the words output transform calculation signals, and Infinite is thus barred from asserting any equivalents to that limitation, under Festo. In Infinite's view, the amendment changed the nature of the claimed output signals. Infinite further asserts that a more particular recitation of the output signals was necessary to define the invention over the prior art cited prior to the amendment. Second, Infinite argues that Interactive's arguments that were made during prosecution in order to traverse the outstanding prior art rejections estop Interactive from asserting infringement by equivalents of the image transform processor means limitation. Infinite contends that Interactive's remarks to the Examiner characterized the invention as a one-step image transformation system while characterizing Juday as disclosing a two-step image transformation process - first creating a look-up table off-line and then transforming the image using the look-up table. Infinite points out that SmoothMove(r) also involves a two-step process - first creating the equirectangular panorama file with the PhotoSeamer, an off-line operation, and then viewing selected portions using the Viewer. 27 Interactive responds that the amendment changing output signals to output transform calculation signals did not narrow the claim, but merely clarified it by relabeling the signals without changing their identity or qualities. Interactive also responds that the arguments made during prosecution did not disclaim coverage of the SmoothMove(r) software. Interactive characterizes its remarks to the Examiner as not drawing a one-step versus two-step distinction, but rather pointing out that Juday's system cannot provide continuous changes in viewing angle, rotation, and magnification of the perspective corrected output image portion in real time relative to the user's input of different viewing angle, rotation, and magnification. 28 We agree with Interactive that the claim amendment and arguments do not estop Infinite from asserting infringement on the ground that the image transform processor means limitation is met by equivalence. As to the amendment-based estoppel issue, we conclude that the addition of the words transform calculation was not a narrowing amendment because that addition did nothing more than make express what had been implicit in the claim as originally worded. That interpretation flows from the original claim as a whole and in light of the specification. First, the claim names the processor a transform processor, and thus transform describes what the processor does. Secondly, the specification refers to the corresponding structure as X-MAP and Y-MAP transform processors, '667 patent, col. 4, ll. 1-2 (emphasis added), and derives equations by which the transform is calculated, id. at col. 7, ll. 3-54. Given such context, one skilled in the art could reach no other conclusion than that the output signals are the result of a transform calculation. Because the amendment merely made explicit what had been implicit in the claim, the amendment was not made for a substantial reason related to patentability and thus does not create prosecution history estoppel. Warner-Jenkinson, 520 U.S. at 33, 41 USPQ2d at 1873; see also Turbocare Div. of Deman Delaval Turbomach. Corp. v. Gen. Elec. Co., 264 F.3d 1111, 1125-26, 60 USPQ2d 1017, 1028 (Fed. Cir. 2001) (holding that addition of the word contact to a claim did not narrow the claim and therefore did not estop application of the doctrine of equivalents for that element because another claim phrase, small diameter position, when read in light of the specification, necessarily implied contact.). 29 Infinite also argues that Interactive narrowed the definition of the phrase output signals in order to avoid the prior art. Infinite's argument is based on the following applicant remark made during prosecution concerning [t]he present invention, as defined most broadly in Claim 1: 30 The [digitized fisheye image] information in this input memory is processed with a transform processor to produce output signals corresponding to the perspective corrected views according to selected viewing angles and magnification, with these output signals being produced according to a combination of the digitized signals, the selected viewing angles and the selected magnification. 31 Although that remark does describe an aspect of the invention not found in the prior art, it did not alter what the phrase output transform calculation signals, or more simply the phrase output signals, meant in the claim and the patent as a whole. On the contrary, the remark is consistent with the plain language of the claim and the portion of the specification concerning the output signals. That remark reinforces our conclusion that no difference exists between the two phrases. The remark uses the shorthand output signals even though claim 1 contemporaneously had been amended to recite output transform calculation signals. The applicant's interchanging of the two phrases therefore indicates that the phrases have the same meaning. 32 As to the argument-based estoppel issue, we agree with Interactive that the arguments made during prosecution to distinguish Juday's '019 patent do not create estoppel. As illustrated in Figure 1 of the '019 patent, Juday discloses an image processing system, including a camera 4, an analog-to-digital converter 6, a programmable remapper 10, a digital-to-analog converter 14, and a monitor 18, connected serially in that order. '019 patent, Figure 1. The programmable remapper 10 transforms a digitized camera image into another form according to an operator selected look-up table. Id. at col. 3, ll. 49-59. By specifying a different look-up table, a different transform may be applied. Id. Juday discloses specific transforms to accommodate particular vision impairments, viz., remapping an image away from the central portion and into the periphery to accommodate maculopathy, and compressing an image including its periphery into just the central portion to accommodate tunnel vision. Id. at col. 4, ll. 4-19. Each look-up table is determined off-line and then stored in the memory of the remapper 10. Id. at col. 6, ll. 1-25. Juday's only mention of a fisheye lens is to note that the remapper 10 could introduce fisheye distortion when the image processing system is used as a prosthesis for retinitis pigmentosa. Id. at col. 14, ll. 40-58. 33 The Examiner rejected claim 1 as being obvious over Juday because, according to the Examiner, Juday's image processing system read on claim 1 except that Juday's system lacked the capability to accept viewing angle and magnification selections by the user. The Examiner considered that capability to be well known in the art and concluded that one of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to add those features to Juday's device so as to result in the invention of claim 1. 34 The applicant responded to the obviousness rejection by noting, inter alia, three deficiencies in the Juday system: (1) the lack of a fisheye lens; (2) the lack of pan and tilt implementation, image rotation, and magnification; and (3) the lack of real time capability. Concerning the latter, the applicant stated: 35 Juday et al. utilizes a group of pre-selected 'look-up' tables for remapping an image into the pre-selected configurations. A specific look-up table is then used by the researcher to achieve a given remapping of the input data. Due to this functioning, the resultant 'corrected image' is created in real-time at video rates relative to the input to the system for only a limited number of image orientations and magnifications. Continuous change in orientation and magnification is not feasible in real time at video rates with the Juday et al. device. Hence, perspective corrected pan and tilt is not possible in real time with that device (in contrast to the action with the device of the Applicant). . . . Further, Juday et al. fails to provide either magnification or image rotation. These cannot be accomplished by Juday et al. without continuous redetermination of the transformal mapping, with this not being possible with the look-up table type of transformations. 36 We do not read those remarks as drawing a distinction between a one-step viewing system and a two-step viewing system. Infinite's reading appears to misapprehend Juday's look-up tables by assuming that they are intermediate forms of the image. That is not the case. Juday's look-up tables represent the transformations themselves, not the output images. '019 patent at col. 3, ll. 49-59. Rather than drawing a one-step versus a two-step distinction, the remarks point out that Juday's system cannot produce a view with a different orientation, rotation, or magnification, unless a different look-up table is utilized, and widespread changing of look-up tables is not practical in real time. In contrast, the invention's transform calculation can provide a perspective corrected output image portion with variable viewing angle, rotation, and magnification. Because the viewing angle, rotation, and magnification are variables built into the transformation, the output can change in real time relative to the user's input of changes to those parameters. (That is also how the Viewer module of the accused software operates, albeit on an intermediate form of the image.) Accordingly, because the applicant's remarks pertain only to the invention's capability to respond in real time to user parameters, Interactive is not estopped from asserting that Infinite's two-step viewing software infringes the '667 patent under the doctrine of equivalents. 37 Because neither the claim amendment nor the applicant's arguments during prosecution estop Interactive from asserting that the SmoothMove(r) software contains an element equivalent to the image transform processor means, we affirm the district court's denial of Infinite's post-trial motion on the issue of prosecution history estoppel. 38
39 Infinite next argues that the asserted scope of equivalents would not have been patentable over the following prior art articles: G. David Ripley, DVI - A Digital Multimedia Technology, 32 Communications of the ACM 811 (1989) (Ripley); Ned Greene, Environment Mapping and Other Applications of World Projections, 6 IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications 21 (1986) (Greene); and Mario Onoe & Yoshinori Kuno, Digital Processing of Images Taken by Fish-Eye Lens, IEEE: Proceedings, New York 105 (1982) (Onoe). According to Infinite, Ripley and Greene disclose fisheye lens cameras capturing hemispherical views, which are digitized and transformed in their entirety to equirectangular projections, from which a user can choose to view a certain portion, while Onoe discloses transformation algorithms for converting a fisheye image to a perspectively correct rectangular image. Interactive responds that substantial evidence supports the jury's finding that the hypothetical claim does not encompass what Ripley, Greene, and Onoe teach. More particularly, Interactive states that the articles individually and cumulatively do not disclose or suggest perspective corrective transformation of only a portion of an image with user selection of magnification and rotation. Infinite counters that the jury's finding is merely advisory on that issue of law. 40 It is well settled law that a patentee cannot assert a range of equivalents that encompasses the prior art. Wilson Sporting Goods Co. v. David Geoffrey & Assocs., 904 F.2d 677, 683, 14 USPQ2d 1942, 1948 (Fed. Cir. 1990). To test this limit, the notion of a hypothetical claim may be useful. Id. at 684, 14 USPQ2d at 1948. A hypothetical claim may be constructed to literally cover the accused device. Id. If such a claim would be unpatentable under 35 U.S.C. 102 or 103, then the patentee has overreached, and the accused device is noninfringing as a matter of law. Id. at 683-84, 14 USPQ2d at 1948. The burden of producing evidence of prior art to challenge a hypothetical claim rests with an accused infringer, but the burden of proving patentability of the hypothetical claim rests with the patentee. Streamfeeder, LLC v. Sure-Feed Sys., Inc., 175 F.3d 974, 984, 50 USPQ2d 1515, 1521 (Fed. Cir. 1999). 41 We conclude that Ripley, Greene, and Onoe collectively fail to disclose or suggest the hypothetical version of claim 1 presented to the jury. The Ripley article, written by Infinite's founder, describes a system called Palenque, Ripley at 881-19, which was a precursor of SmoothMove(r). Like SmoothMove(r), Palenque produced an equirectangular panorama file from a photographic image captured by a fisheye lens camera. Id. Although the Ripley article does not address whether Palenque provided perspective correction, magnification, or rotation of the selected portion of the image, the testimony of Ripley and others firmly establishes that Palenque lacked those capabilities; Infinite does not indicate otherwise. In other words, Palenque merely copied a user-specified portion of the panorama for display on an output device, without perspective correction and without the capability for magnification or rotation. 42 The Greene article describes a technique for projecting a fisheye image onto a half cube and thus providing perspective correction. Greene at 27-28. The Onoe article describes three computational methods for correcting distortion in fisheye images and thereby accurately measuring parameters (e.g., distance) from fisheye images. Onoe at 105. One method employs a single fisheye image with partial a priori knowledge of parameters. Id. The other two methods employ stereo fisheye images without a priori knowledge of parameters. Id. 43 While Greene or Onoe may have taught one of ordinary skill in the art to add a perspective correction capability to the Palenque system described by Ripley, it is not clear that perspective correction is applied only to the user-selected portion of the image, rather than to the entire image. Even assuming perspective correction of only a portion of the image, the combination taught by the cited articles would lack at least the capability of the user to magnify or rotate the selected, perspective-corrected portion of the image, and the capability to do so in real time relative to the user's input would certainly not have been obvious. Because claim 1 requires that the perspective correction processing performed by the image transform processor means be done according to a combination of said digitized [input image] signals, said selected viewing angles and said selected magnification, we conclude that hypothetical claim 1 would not have been unpatentable over Ripley, Greene, and Onoe. Furthermore, because claim 5 additionally recites user input of a rotation angle, we conclude that a hypothetical version of claim 5, depending from and further limiting hypothetical claim 1, would also not have been unpatentable over the prior art of record. 44 We reach our conclusion on this issue independently of the jury's verdict. Because we reach the same conclusion as the jury, we need not address the level of deference to which a jury's verdict is entitled in conducting a hypothetical claim analysis. Compare Wilson Sporting Goods, 904 F.2d at 683, 14 USPQ2d at 1948 (holding ensnarement to be an issue of law reviewed de novo) with Tegal Corp. v. Tokyo Electron Am., Inc., 257 F.3d 1331, 1348, 59 USPQ2d 1385, 1398 (Fed. Cir. 2001) (holding that underlying questions of fact in the context of obviousness are reviewed for clear error). 45
46 Finally, Infinite argues that Interactive cannot assert infringement by equivalents of the image transform processor means limitation, because that limitation is not literally present in the SmoothMove(r) software, and the equivalent feature that is present in the SmoothMove(r) software predates the '667 patent. Infinite cites Chiuminatta Concrete Concepts, Inc. v. Cardinal Indus., Inc., 145 F.3d 1303, 46 USPQ2d 1752 (Fed. Cir. 1998), as the basis for its argument. 47 Interactive responds that this case is distinguishable from Chiuminatta; we agree. In Chiuminatta, we held that a finding that a component of an accused product is not a structure equivalent to the corresponding structure of a means-plus-function limitation for purposes of literal infringement analysis precludes a finding that the same structure is equivalent for purposes of the doctrine of equivalents, unless the component constitutes technology arising after the issuance of the patent. Id. at 1311, 46 USPQ2d at 1758. However, when a finding of noninfringement under 35 U.S.C. 112, paragraph 6, is premised on an absence of identical function, then infringement under the doctrine of equivalents is not thereby automatically precluded. WMS Gaming Inc. v. Int'l Game Tech., 184 F.3d 1339, 1353, 51 USPQ2d 1385, 1395 (Fed. Cir. 1999). That is because infringement under the doctrine of equivalents may be premised on the accused and the patented component having substantially the same function, whereas structure corresponding to the disclosed limitation in a means-plus-function clause must perform the identical function. Id. 48 In this case, as in WMS Gaming, the absence of literal infringement is due to a lack of identical function of the claimed means, not a lack of equivalent structure, as the district judge aptly recognized. Interactive Pictures, Corp. v. Infinite Pictures, Inc., No. 3:96-CV-849, slip op. at 3-5 (E.D. Tenn. Sept. 25, 2000). More precisely, the difference is that a different signal is input to the image transform processor means. The claim recites that the input signal constitutes said digitized signals, which refer to a digitized form of the image signals produced by a fisheye lens camera imaging system, whereas the asserted equivalent's input signal is an equirectangular panorama file. A difference of inputs to a signal processing element resulting in the same output necessarily implies a difference in function performed by the element. In fact, the jury in this case concluded that the difference was insubstantial. We will not reverse that fact-based decision as a matter of law. Accordingly, we affirm the district court's denial of Infinite's post-trial motion for JMOL on this issue.