Opinion ID: 174530
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: “Opened”

Text: The jury found infringement of claims 1-4 of the ’018 patent in terms of the doctrine of equivalents. The only claim limitation presented for jury consideration of equivalency was the holder drive gear. Daewoo does not challenge the jury’s finding of equivalency of the holder drive gear. However, Daewoo argues that the district court erred in its determination on summary judgment that the “opened” limitation was literally infringed, and that infringement 9 FUNAI ELECTRIC v. DAEWOO ELECTRONICS under the doctrine of equivalents cannot be found because of prosecution history estoppel as to the “opened” limitation. Daewoo argues that the court erred as to the “opened” limitation by focusing only on the status of the door upon movement of the cassette holder to the initial position, without also accounting for the claim’s requirement that the VCR door is opened before the cassette holder moves from the play position. Daewoo states that in its VCRs the door is opened only after the cassette holder has moved two millimeters. The district court held that: “It does not matter that the door does not move before the holder shifts from the play position to the intermediate position. The critical point, not disputed by the parties, is that when the holder is moved towards the initial position from the intermediate position, the door has already begun its opening motion.” Funai, 2006 WL 3780715, at . Funai states that the district court correctly construed the “opened” limitation to mean “moved from a closed position such that the door has cleared the cassette so that ejecting the cassette will not interfere with the door.” Funai, 2006 WL 6130993, at . We agree that this claim construction is correct, for it is as described in the specification. This construction, and the summary judgment based thereon, have not been shown to be in error. The court’s ruling that the “opened” limitation is literally met by the accused products is sustained. On the entirety of the claim, the jury verdict of infringement is supported by substantial evidence, and is affirmed.