Opinion ID: 174530
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: “Holder Drive Gear”

Text: Funai appeals the summary judgment that claims 1-4 of the ’018 patent are not literally infringed based on the court’s “holder drive gear” interpretation, and Daewoo appeals the summary judgment that the “opened” limitation is literally met. The other limitations of these claims were conceded by Daewoo to be embodied in its accused cassette decks. In the Daewoo products, when loading a cassette into a T-Mecha deck, the cassette is placed in the cassette holder in an “initial position” and thereafter is driven to a position, called an “intermediate” position, from which a pin on the cassette holder pushes the cassette downward about two millimeters, to the play position. The Daewoo ejection sequence is similar, but the actions occur in the reverse order. During ejection of a cassette the pin is released, allowing embedded springs to push the cassette upward from the play position about two millimeters, whereupon it arrives at the intermediate position as the door is opened. While in the intermediate position, and before further movement of the cassette holder to the initial position, the door becomes fully opened. FUNAI ELECTRIC v. DAEWOO ELECTRONICS 8 The district court ruled that the Daewoo cassette decks could not be found to literally meet the claim limitation that “said holder drive gear starts to drive said cassette holder from said play position towards said initial position,” for in the Daewoo decks “it is the slide arm cam’s release of the pin that moves the holder from the play position.” Funai, 2006 WL 3780715, at . The court explained that in the Daewoo products the release of the pin holding down the video cassette, and the subsequent force of the springs applied to the cassette upon the release of the pin, move the cassette holder from the play position toward the initial position. Since this action is not performed by the holder drive gear, the court ruled by summary judgment that the claims could not be found to be literally infringed. On appeal Funai argues that the “holder drive gear” limitation is literally met whenever the accused products are not loaded with a cassette tape, at which time the pin and springs are not implicated. However, the claims are predicated on the presence of a cassette tape, for all of the claims recite “loading,” “receiving,” “holding,” and “moving” a video cassette. We affirm the district court’s ruling that the “holder drive gear” limitation could not be found to be literally met, negating literal infringement of claims 1-4 of the ’018 patent.