Opinion ID: 212038
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Claim 9: means for limiting movement

Text: 41 Playtex further assigns error to the district court's understanding of the limiting means in dependent claim 9. It argues that the claim term limiting means should be restricted by the sole drawing of the structure, notwithstanding its broader description in the specification. As explained below, we find these arguments unconvincing and we affirm the district court's construction of the claim term. 42 Identifying the corresponding structure for the limiting means of claim 9 requires the court to examine the drawings and the abstract in the '178 patent's written description. Either can provide support for the corresponding structure for the limiting means. 35 U.S.C. § 112. The specification includes the drawings, see, e.g., Vas-Cath, Inc. v. Mahurkar, 935 F.2d 1555, 1565 (Fed.Cir.1991) (under proper circumstances, drawings alone may provide a `written description' of an invention as required by § 112). The abstract can also serve to support the corresponding structure for § 112. See, e.g., SciMed Life Sys., Inc. v. Advanced Cardiovascular Sys., Inc., 242 F.3d 1337, 1342 (Fed.Cir.2001). 43 The district court correctly concluded that the means for limiting movement of the plunger in claim 9 corresponded to a curved-shaped `lip' or an equivalent structure on at least one ... end[] of the plunger. Therefore, there is no implication that the means for limiting movement of the plunger could not include a lip structure or its equivalent on both ends of the plunger, merely that only one such structure is necessary. 44 When looking to the specification for the structure of a § 112 ¶ 6 claim, one must construe the claim in accordance with all the structures disclosed by the inventor. Here the text of the written description clearly describes how the structure of the limiting means is broader than the single embodiment depicted in the drawing. The written description, therefore, discloses the structure as required by § 112 ¶ 6.