Court Opinion

ID: 9940745
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2024-02-15 15:01:34.423632+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:45:44.251631
License: Public Domain

Case: 23-1097    Document: 41     Page: 1   Filed: 02/15/2024

        NOTE: This disposition is nonprecedential.

   United States Court of Appeals
       for the Federal Circuit
                  ______________________

                MASTEROBJECTS, INC.,
                   Plaintiff-Appellant

                             v.

                META PLATFORMS, INC.,
                   Defendant-Appellee
                 ______________________

                        2023-1097
                  ______________________

    Appeal from the United States District Court for the
 Northern District of California in No. 3:21-cv-05428-WHA,
 Judge William H. Alsup.
                  ______________________

                Decided: February 15, 2024
                 ______________________

     DARRELL RAE ATKINSON, Hosie Rice LLP, San Fran-
 cisco, CA, argued for plaintiff-appellant. Also represented
 by SPENCER HOSIE, DIANE SUE RICE.

    JEFFREY G. HOMRIG, Latham & Watkins LLP, Austin,
 TX, argued for defendant-appellee. Also represented by
 GABRIEL K. BELL, RACHEL WEINER COHEN, Washington,
 DC; JOSEPH HYUK LEE, Costa Mesa, CA; DOUGLAS ETHAN
 LUMISH, Menlo Park, CA.
                 ______________________
Case: 23-1097     Document: 41      Page: 2    Filed: 02/15/2024

 2               MASTEROBJECTS, INC. v. META PLATFORMS, INC.

 Before LOURIE, REYNA, and CUNNINGHAM, Circuit Judges.
 LOURIE, Circuit Judge.
      MasterObjects, Inc. (“MasterObjects”) appeals from a
 decision of the United States District Court for the North-
 ern District of California granting summary judgment that
 Meta Platforms, Inc. (“Meta”) did not infringe U.S. Patents
 8,539,024 (the “’024 patent”); 9,760,628 (the “’628 patent”);
 10,311,073 (the “’073 patent”); and 10,394,866 (the “’866
 patent”) (collectively, the “asserted patents”). MasterOb-
 jects, Inc. v. Meta Platforms, Inc., No. C 21-05428, 2022 WL
 12039301 (N.D. Cal. Oct. 20, 2022) (“Decision”). For the
 following reasons, we reverse and remand.
                         BACKGROUND
     The asserted patents all descend from a common appli-
 cation filed in 2001 that resulted in U.S. Patent 8,112,529
 (the “’529 patent”). The ’024, ’628, and ’866 patents are
 continuations of the ’529 patent and share its specification,
 and the ’073 patent is a continuation-in-part. The patents
 are directed to systems for querying that provide a user
 with results as the user types, rather than waiting for the
 user to submit the full search term. The specifications de-
 scribe several embodiments, including the exemplary
 “QuestObjects” system. For example, claim 1 of the ’024
 patent is presented below:
     1. A system comprising:
     a server system, including one or more computers,
     which is configured to receive query messages from
     a client object, the server system asynchronously re-
     ceiving and responding to the query messages from
     the client object over a network;
     the client object that, while a user is providing input
     comprising a lengthening string of characters, sends
     query messages to the server system;
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 MASTEROBJECTS, INC. v. META PLATFORMS, INC.                  3

    whereby the query messages represent the lengthen-
    ing string as additional characters are being input
    by the user; and
    wherein the server system, while receiving said
    query messages, uses the input to query data avail-
    able to the server system and send return messages
    to the client object containing results in response to
    the input; and
    wherein, upon receiving a return message of the re-
    turn messages from the server system, the client ob-
    ject tests the usability of the results in the return
    message by checking that the return message corre-
    sponds to the latest query, and if usability is estab-
    lished, the client object displays or returns at least
    some result data to the user.
 ’024 patent col. 31 l. 52–col. 32 l. 7 (emphases added).
     MasterObjects sued Meta for infringement of the as-
 serted patents in the United States District Court for the
 Western District of Texas, where the case was assigned to
 Judge Albright. Meta moved to transfer the case to the
 Northern District of California. Pursuant to Judge Al-
 bright’s Standing Order at the time, the parties proceeded
 with claim construction before any ruling on the Motion to
 Transfer. Appellant’s Br. at 7. Three claim construction
 disputes arose between the parties: (1) the construction of
 “query message,” (2) the construction of “asynchronously,”
 and (3) the collateral estoppel effect, if any, of a claim con-
 struction order in a prior district court case involving the
 ’529 patent, MasterObjects, Inc. v. Google, Inc., No. C 11-
 1054, 2013 WL 2319087 (N.D. Cal. May 28, 2013) (“Google
 Order”), which we summarily affirmed in MasterObjects,
 Inc. v. Google, Inc., 582 F. App’x 893 (Fed. Cir. 2014).
 These issues are common to all of the asserted patents.
     Meta argued that the specifications of the asserted pa-
 tents limit the claims to systems that send only the
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 4               MASTEROBJECTS, INC. v. META PLATFORMS, INC.

 changes to a user input string since the last query was sent
 to the server, rather than permitting characters to be re-
 sent in consecutive queries. See J.A. 344. Meta argued
 that each “query message” thus consists of “just the
 changes” to the user input string, rather than the full par-
 tial string including portions already sent to the server.
 See J.A. 357–59, 5388. For example, under Meta’s con-
 struction, if a user typed “cat,” the client could send “c,”
 then “a,” then “t” to the server, with each character sent as
 a separate message, or the client could send “c” then “at”
 as two separate messages; the server then fuses the por-
 tions of the input string together to form the word “cat.”
 J.A. 341. Under Meta’s construction the client never
 resends characters, such as by sending “c” then “ca” then
 “cat.” See Id. MasterObjects argued that the claims were
 not so limited, and that Meta was reading a specific embod-
 iment into the claims. J.A. 1118–19. Meta also argued that
 the Google Order collaterally estopped MasterObjects from
 disputing Meta’s construction. J.A. 356. MasterObjects
 opposed applying estoppel, arguing that the Google order
 involved a different patent with different claims and terms.
 J.A. 2118.
     For the other disputed term, Meta argued that, based
 on the patentee’s lexicography, “asynchronously” must be
 construed to require the server be able to initiate commu-
 nication with the client. J.A. 349. MasterObjects disa-
 greed, arguing that “asynchronously” describes the timing
 of communications between the server and client after ini-
 tiation (i.e., by permitting them to speak over one another),
 not the initiation itself, and that Meta was pointing to a
 non-limiting embodiment as supposed evidence of lexicog-
 raphy. J.A. 1136. Specifically, MasterObjects argued that
 “asynchronously” should be construed as either (1) plain
 and ordinary meaning, (2) “[e]ach side of the communica-
 tion is free to communicate without waiting for the other
 side,” or (3) “each side of the communication is free to com-
 municate with the other side in a non-blocking matter,”
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 MASTEROBJECTS, INC. v. META PLATFORMS, INC.                 5

 while Meta argued it should be construed as “[b]oth the cli-
 ent and the server can initiate communications at any mo-
 ment in time.” See J.A. 5388.
      On November 29, 2020, the Texas court provided the
 parties with its preliminary constructions tentatively
 adopting MasterObjects’ proposed constructions. That is,
 “query message” was given its plain and ordinary meaning
 and “not limited to a message/string comprising only the
 changes to an input string and may include the entire input
 string,” and “asynchronously” was construed as “[e]ach side
 of the communication is free to communicate without wait-
 ing for the other side.” Id. Following oral argument on
 claim construction, the Texas court, in a minute order with-
 out written opinion, adopted its preliminary constructions
 as final. See J.A. 2495. Meta did not file a motion for re-
 consideration in the Texas court, and those constructions
 were applied throughout fact and expert discovery.
     On July 13, 2021, the Texas court granted Meta’s mo-
 tion to transfer the case to the Northern District of Califor-
 nia, where it was assigned to Judge Alsup. See J.A. 5357,
 5363. Meta did not move for reconsideration of the Texas
 court’s claim construction by the California court. How-
 ever, upon the close of discovery, Meta moved for summary
 judgment of noninfringement, reasserting its original
 claim construction positions that had been rejected by the
 Texas court. J.A. 6954. MasterObjects opposed the motion,
 arguing that (1) the constructions previously decided by the
 Texas court were correct, and (2) because Meta had not
 moved for reconsideration of those constructions, the Cali-
 fornia court was precluded from adopting different con-
 structions. J.A. 8771.
     Approximately three weeks before the scheduled trial
 date, the California court granted Meta’s motion for sum-
 mary judgment of noninfringement and entered judgment
 in favor of Meta. The court first found that Meta did not
 need to file a motion for reconsideration, or even satisfy a
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 6              MASTEROBJECTS, INC. v. META PLATFORMS, INC.

 motion-for-reconsideration standard, and that the court
 was not precluded from “determining a different construc-
 tion.” Decision at *3. The court pointed out that the origi-
 nal constructions by the Texas court were finalized in a
 minute order, providing “nothing on which to base [a mo-
 tion for reconsideration] evaluation.” Id.
      The California court also found that, in view of the
 Google Order, collateral estoppel precluded MasterObject’s
 construction of “query message.” Although the Google Or-
 der construed a different term in the ’529 patent and re-
 lated U.S. Patent 8,060,639 (the “’639 patent”), the court
 noted that the asserted patents were in the same family
 and that “they all share a common specification.” Id. at *4.
 It found that the Google Order:
     was based on the following passage from that com-
     mon specification (emphasis added):
        If the results are not found in the cache, the
        Client Quester uses the Client Controller
        to send the new input buffer to the Server
        Quester, so that a new query can be exe-
        cuted (step 611). To support this, the pro-
        tocol of the present invention provides a
        number of messages that allow the Client
        Quester to send just the changes to the input
        buffer, instead of sending the entire input
        buffer[.]
     (’024 patent 20:11–17).
 Id. The court emphasized that the Google Order found
 “that the use of ‘the current invention’ here indicates that
 the description is intended to apply to the invention as a
 whole, and not just a single embodiment.” Id. (quoting
 Google Order at *12). The court therefore found that the
 claim construction issue in this case was “identical” to the
 one addressed in the Google Order: “whether the specifica-
 tion limits the claimed invention such that the client sends
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 MASTEROBJECTS, INC. v. META PLATFORMS, INC.                 7

 ‘just the changes’ to the server.” Id. It further found that
 the asserted claims did “not differ substantively from the
 claims considered in Google such that collateral estoppel
 would not apply.” Id. The court therefore adopted Meta’s
 proposed “just the changes” construction of “query mes-
 sage.” Id. at *4–6.
      For “asynchronously,” the California court first
 acknowledged that “[a]synchronous in the general, com-
 puter programming sense broadly refers to ‘something that
 is not depending on timing.’” Id. at *6 (citation omitted).
 It then found that, although it was “not bound to the con-
 struction adopted in Texas,” it “need not adjust the prior
 construction because it adequately captures the nature of
 the term.” Id. at *6. However, the court ultimately added
 to the Texas court’s construction Meta’s previously rejected
 proposed requirement that “[b]oth the client and the server
 can initiate communications at any time.” Id. It relied pri-
 marily on language in the specification that “[t]he system
 is bi-directional and asynchronous, in that both the Client
 and the Server can initiate communications at any moment
 in time.” Id. (quoting ’024 patent, col. 12 ll. 24–26) (empha-
 sis added by the California court). MasterObjects argued
 that that language described a non-limiting embodiment
 called “QuestObjects.”      The court acknowledged that
 QuestObjects was “a preferred embodiment,” but found
 that the relevant passage of the specification was not em-
 bodiment-specific. Id. at *6. Based on that understanding,
 the court adopted a server initiation requirement for “asyn-
 chronously.” Id. at *6–9.
     In light of its new constructions, the California court
 granted summary judgment of noninfringement and en-
 tered judgment in favor of Meta accordingly. See id. at *9;
 J.A. 17. MasterObjects timely appealed. We have jurisdic-
 tion under 28 U.S.C. § 1295(a)(1).
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 8               MASTEROBJECTS, INC. v. META PLATFORMS, INC.

                         DISCUSSION
     We review a district court’s grant of summary judg-
 ment under the law of the regional circuit, in this case the
 Ninth Circuit. Apple Inc. v. Wi-LAN Inc., 25 F.4th 960, 974
 (Fed. Cir. 2022). The Ninth Circuit reviews a district
 court’s grant of summary judgment de novo. Id.
                               I
     We first address whether or not MasterObjects is col-
 laterally estopped from asserting that “query message” is
 not limited to “just the changes.” We review a district
 court’s application of collateral estoppel de novo. e.Digital
 Corp. v. Futurewei Techs., Inc., 772 F.3d 723, 726 (Fed. Cir.
 2014). That review is guided by regional precedent, but we
 apply this Court’s precedent to any aspects that involve
 “substantive issues of patent law.” Ohio Willow Wood Co.
 v. Alps S., LLC, 735 F.3d 1333, 1342 (Fed. Cir. 2013) (citing
 Aspex Eyewear, Inc. v. Zenni Optical, Inc., 713 F.3d 1377,
 1380 (Fed. Cir. 2013)). The Ninth Circuit also reviews a
 district court’s application of collateral estoppel de novo.
 Wolfson v. Brammer, 616 F.3d 1045, 1064 (9th Cir. 2010).
     Collateral estoppel only applies if: “(1) the issue neces-
 sarily decided in the previous proceeding is identical to the
 one which is sought to be relitigated; (2) the first proceed-
 ing ended with a final judgment on the merits; and (3) the
 party against which collateral estoppel is asserted was a
 party or in privity with a party at the first proceeding.”
 e.Digital, 772 F.3d at 726 (citing Hydranautics v. FilmTec
 Corp., 204 F.3d 880, 885 (9th Cir. 2000)).
     As explained above, the Google Order involved the ’529
 patent, from which the asserted patents claim priority, and
 the related ’639 patent. The court in the Google Order con-
 sidered the common construction of four phrases each us-
 ing the term “additional characters.” Google Order at *11.
 The Google court adopting Google’s proposed construction
 that the “additional characters” phrases meant “only the
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 MASTEROBJECTS, INC. v. META PLATFORMS, INC.                 9

 changes to the input string that were not sent in any pre-
 vious consecutive query.” Id. at *12. In reaching that de-
 termination, the court focused on “the claim language
 itself,” finding that that the language “suggests that the
 ‘lengthening string’ is formed by piecing together multiple
 smaller queries, rather than by receiving iteratively longer
 versions of the string.” Id. (quoting the ’529 patent claims).
 It went on to note that:
     Claim 1 of the ’529 patent describes how “consecu-
     tive additional characters” are input at the client
     and sent as “consecutive queries” to the server,
     “wherein each of the corresponding consecutive
     queries lengthens the string by the additional char-
     acters, to form a lengthening string.” The server
     then “receiv[es] each of the corresponding consecu-
     tive queries that modify the lengthening string.”
     The words “lengthens” and “modify” suggest that
     the server is not wiping its slate clean with each
     new submitted query, but is instead combining the
     queries to form the “lengthening string.”
 Id. (quoting ’529 patent, claim 1). Only after considering
 the claim language did the court find that “[t]he specifica-
 tion confirms this understanding.” Id. (emphasis added).
     It is not clear that the Google Order’s interpretation of
 the specification was essential to its construction. Alt-
 hough the Google Order suggests that portions of the com-
 mon specification may limit the overall invention, it did not
 clearly find lexicography or disavowal. See Clark v. Bear
 Stearns & Co., 966 F.2d 1318, 1320 (9th Cir. 1992) (“The
 party asserting preclusion bears the burden of showing
 with clarity and certainty what was determined by the
 prior judgment.”). There is no mention of lexicography or
 disavowal in the Google Order, or even in the parties’ briefs
 to that court. See Appellant’s Reply Br. at 12–13. And the
 Google Order only relies on the specification to “confirm”
 its understanding of the disputed terms based on the
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 10              MASTEROBJECTS, INC. v. META PLATFORMS, INC.

 surrounding claim language. Google Order at *12. We
 summarily affirmed the Google Order without opinion, and
 thus without explaining whether the language in the spec-
 ification was necessary for the affirmed construction. Mas-
 terObjects, 582 F. App’x 893; Fed. Cir. R. 36. Because the
 claim language may provide an independent basis for the
 construction, there is doubt that the Google Order’s inter-
 pretation of the specification was necessary to the judg-
 ment, as is required for collateral estoppel to apply.
 e.Digital, 772 F.3d at 726.
      Moreover, the Google Order’s focus on the specific claim
 language at issue is significant. The ’024, ’628, and ’866
 patents are continuations of the ’529 patent and share its
 specification, while the ’073 patent is a continuation-in-
 part. However, “a court cannot impose collateral estoppel
 to bar a claim construction dispute solely because the pa-
 tents are related.” e.Digital, 772 F.3d at 727. Rather, we
 must consider whether or not the intrinsic record for each
 patent, including the claims, differs in a material way. The
 “additional character” phrases at issue in the Google Order
 do not appear in the claims of asserted patents here. And
 neither does any of the surrounding claim language consid-
 ered in the Google Order, such as “lengthens” or “modify.”
 See eBay Inc. v. MasterObjects, Inc., No. IPR2017-00740,
 2017 WL 3209158, at *4 (P.T.A.B. July 27, 2017) (finding
 in an Institution Decision that estoppel did not apply to the
 construction of “query message” in the ’024 patent claims,
 in part because the Google Order “construed the term ‘ad-
 ditional characters’ in view of additional claim language,
 ‘lengthens’ and ‘modify,’” which did not appear in the ’024
 patent claims). Rather, the claims at issue here include a
 different term, “query message,” with different surround-
 ing language, such as “corresponds” and “represents.” See,
 e.g., ’024 patent, claim 1. Meta asks us to apply an estoppel
 effect to a prior court’s construction of a different term in a
 different patent with different surrounding claim lan-
 guage. We decline to do so, as we do not find the issues to
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 MASTEROBJECTS, INC. v. META PLATFORMS, INC.                11

 be identical. See, e.g., Trading Techs. Int’l, Inc. v. Open E
 Cry, LLC, 728 F.3d 1309, 1319–20 (Fed. Cir. 2013) (finding
 that a prior decision that opined on the patent’s specifica-
 tion “merely determined the best construction for a single
 disputed claim term, a term that is absent from the
 claims . . . now before us”).
     Further, the ’073 patent is a continuation-in-part that
 includes substantial new material in its specification while
 incorporating the ’529 specification by reference. Although
 we do not find applying estoppel appropriate for any of the
 asserted patents, it would be particularly inappropriate to
 apply estoppel effect to the ’073 patent, as the ’073 specifi-
 cation differs in material ways from those at issue in the
 Google Order. See e.Digital, 772 F.3d at 727 (“A continua-
 tion-in-part, for instance, may disclose new matter that
 could materially impact the interpretation of a claim, and
 therefore require a new claim construction inquiry.”). For
 example, it includes additional language, such as that, in
 some embodiments, the server “does not remember infor-
 mation . . . and does not combine the input requests” and
 that “each request from the client . . . represents the full
 information needed.” ’073 patent, col. 31 ll. 23–28, 46–49.
 When considering a specification for purposes of claim con-
 struction, it is important to consider it as a whole, which
 the Google Order simply could not have done for the ’073
 patent. See SanDisk Corp. v. Memorex Prods., Inc.,
 415 F.3d 1278, 1285 (Fed. Cir. 2005) (“The court must al-
 ways read the claims in view of the full specification.”);
 Budde v. Harley-Davidson, Inc., 250 F.3d 1369, 1379–80
 (Fed. Cir. 2001) (“In construing terms used in patent
 claims, it is necessary to consider the specification as a
 whole . . . .”). The California court thus erred in not con-
 sidering any potentially material differences in the disclo-
 sures between the previously litigated patents and the ’073
 patent.
     We therefore reverse the decision of the California
 court and hold that collateral estoppel does not apply to the
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 12              MASTEROBJECTS, INC. v. META PLATFORMS, INC.

 construction of the term “query message” based on the
 Google Order.
                              II
     We next turn to the construction of the disputed terms
 “query message” and “asynchronous.” We review “a district
 court’s claim construction and its interpretations of intrin-
 sic evidence de novo” and “any subsidiary fact findings
 based on extrinsic evidence for clear error.” Apple, 25 F.4th
 at 967. “Absent lexicography or disavowal, we do not de-
 part from the plain meaning of the claims.” Luminara
 Worldwide, LLC v. Liown Elecs. Co., 814 F.3d 1343, 1353
 (Fed. Cir. 2016). In order for a patentee to act as its own
 lexicographer, it must “clearly set forth a definition of the
 disputed claim term” and “clearly express an intent to re-
 define the term.” Thorner v. Sony Comput. Ent. Am. LLC,
 669 F.3d 1362, 1365 (Fed. Cir. 2012) (internal quotation
 marks and citation omitted). Likewise, disavowal occurs
 only when there is a clear and unmistakable intent to ex-
 clude a particular feature from the claimed invention. Lu-
 minara, 814 F.3d at 1353.
                A. “Query Message” Construction
      MasterObjects argues that, as the Texas court found,
 “query message” should be given its plain and ordinary
 meaning such that it is “not limited to a message/string
 comprising only the changes to an input string, and may
 include the entire input string.” Appellant’s Br. at 17.
 Meta argues that, as the California court found, “[e]ach
 query consists of only the changes to the input string that
 were not sent in any previous consecutive query.” Appel-
 lee’s Br. at 34–35. Meta does not argue that any claim lan-
 guage limits “query message” in such a manner, but rather
 points to a passage of the specification, which provides:
 “[T]he protocol of the present invention provides a number
 of messages that allow the Client Quester to send just the
 changes to the input buffer, instead of sending the entire
 input buffer.” Id. (quoting ’024 patent, col. 20 ll. 14–17).
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 MASTEROBJECTS, INC. v. META PLATFORMS, INC.                  13

 Meta argues that, by using the language “the present in-
 vention,” that text applies to and limits the invention as a
 whole. Id. MasterObjects responds that that statement is
 limited to a specific embodiment, as evident from the per-
 missive language, “allow,” and placement within the spec-
 ification. Appellant’s Br. at 30–31.
      We agree with MasterObjects that “query message” is
 not limited as Meta suggests. Claim construction “begins
 and ends . . . with the actual words of the claim.” Teleflex,
 Inc. v. Ficosa N. Am. Corp., 299 F.3d 1313, 1324 (Fed. Cir.
 2002) (quoting Renishaw PLC v. Marposs Societa’ per
 Azioni, 158 F.3d 1243, 1248 (Fed. Cir. 1998); see also In-
 nova/Pure Water, Inc. v. Safari Water Filtration Sys., Inc.,
 381 F.3d 1111, 1116–17 (Fed. Cir. 2004). Nothing in the
 claim language limits “query message” to “just the
 changes.” And even when a patent only describes a single
 embodiment, the claims are not necessarily construed as
 being limited to that embodiment. See Phillips v. AWH
 Corp., 415 F.3d 1303, 1323 (Fed. Cir. 2005) (en banc). We
 must avoid importing limitations from the specification
 into the claims. Id. Although Meta correctly observes that
 we have previously found statements including “the pre-
 sent invention” to indicate clear and unmistakable disa-
 vowal, see, e.g., Regents of Univ. of Minn. v. AGA Med.
 Corp., 717 F.3d 929, 936 (Fed. Cir. 2013); Honeywell Int’l,
 Inc. v. ITT Indus., Inc., 452 F.3d 1312, 1318 (Fed. Cir.
 2006), we have also found that the phrase “is not always so
 limiting,” Absolute Software, Inc. v. Stealth Signal, Inc.,
 659 F.3d 1121, 1136 (Fed. Cir. 2011). In this case, the spec-
 ification language Meta points to merely describes what is
 “allow[able].” ’024 patent, col. 20 ll. 14–17; see also id. col.
 11, ll. 57–61 (describing “sending single characters” as an
 “optimiz[ation]”). None of the passages Meta cites unam-
 biguously makes clear that sending “just the changes” is
 required, to the exclusion of re-sending characters previ-
 ously sent, and do not amount to clear and unmistakable
 disavowal of sending more than just the changes. See
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 14               MASTEROBJECTS, INC. v. META PLATFORMS, INC.

 Absolute Software, 659 F.3d at 1137 (relying on terms like
 “can” as indicating that a feature was “optional” when con-
 cluding that there was no disavowal); Cont’l Cirs. LLC v.
 Intel Corp., 915 F.3d 788, 797–98 (Fed. Cir. 2019) (similar).
     Moreover, the only time the term “query message” is
 used in the specification, albeit in another context, it refers
 to sending a multiple-character string “ab”, after sepa-
 rately receiving, at the server, the letter “a” then the letter
 “b.” See id. col. 18 l. 45–col. 19 l. 2 (“send the appropriate
 query message ‘ab’”). This passage is not conclusive on its
 own but provides further support for our conclusion that
 there was no clear and unmistakable disavowal.
     Because we do not find clear and unmistakable disa-
 vowal, we do not depart from the plain and ordinary mean-
 ing of the term. We therefore find that “query message”
 should be construed as not limited to a message/string com-
 prising only the changes to an input string and may include
 the entire input string.
                B. “Asynchronous” Construction
      MasterObjects argues that the “asynchronous” terms
 should not require that the server be able to initiate com-
 munications, whereas Meta argues that both server and
 the client must be able to initiate communications. Meta
 argues that the patentee acted as its own lexicographer
 and that the specification defines the claimed system as
 “bi-directional and asynchronous, in that both the Client
 and the Server can initiate communications at any moment
 in time.” Id. col. 12 ll. 24–26. It argues that the use of “in
 that” signifies what “asynchronous” means without limita-
 tion to a particular embodiment. Appellee’s Br. at 45. Mas-
 terObjects contends that that language was concerning a
 specific embodiment, QuestObjects, and is therefore non-
 limiting. Appellant’s Br. at 41.
     We agree with MasterObjects that the patentee did not
 act as its own lexicographer. In order for a patentee to have
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 MASTEROBJECTS, INC. v. META PLATFORMS, INC.                15

 acted as its own lexicographer, it “must ‘clearly express an
 intent’ to redefine the term.” Thorner, 669 F.3d at 1365
 (quoting Helmsderfer v. Bobrick Washroom Equip., Inc.,
 527 F.3d 1379, 1381 (Fed. Cir. 2008)). “It is not enough for
 a patentee to simply disclose a single embodiment or use a
 word in the same manner in all embodiments . . . .” Id. We
 see no clear intent to define “asynchronous” as requiring
 the server to be capable of initiating communication. Alt-
 hough lexicography requires no formal phrases or magic
 words, Astrazeneca AB, Aktiebolaget Hassle, KBI-E, Inc. v.
 Mut. Pharm. Co., 384 F.3d 1333, 1339 (Fed. Cir. 2004),
 Meta does not point us to any prior decision that has held
 that “in that” signifies a clear intent to define a term, and
 we decline to do so here. Further, the statement at issue is
 not simply referring to “asynchronous” alone, but “bi-direc-
 tional and asynchronous,” making the patentee’s intent
 even less clear. ’024 patent, col. 12 ll. 24–26.
      Moreover, the use of “Client” and “Server” with capital
 letters supports our conclusion that the statement in ques-
 tion is limited to the QuestObjects embodiment and does
 not speak to the broader invention as a whole. Indeed,
 Meta acknowledged during claim construction in the Texas
 court that “[t]he common specification . . . proceeds to cap-
 italize ‘Client’ and ‘Server’ when it speaks of a specific em-
 bodiment.” See Meta’s Resp. Claim Constr. Br. at 13, J.A.
 2126 (citing ’024 patent, col. 11 ll. 50–65). See also Master-
 Objects, Inc. v. eBay, Inc., No. 3:12-cv-680, 2013 WL
 1287428, at *4 (N.D. Cal. Mar. 28, 2013), and MasterOb-
 jects, Inc. v. Yahoo!, Inc., No. C 11-02539, 2013 WL
 6185475, at *4 (N.D. Cal. Nov. 26, 2013) (considering the
 same portion of the specification and finding that it de-
 scribed a specific embodiment, QuestObjects). As the Cal-
 ifornia court recognized, QuestObjects is merely
 exemplary, the “preferred embodiment.” Decision at *6.
 The discussion of “asynchronous” in relation to that embod-
 iment does not amount to a clear and unmistakable
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 16              MASTEROBJECTS, INC. v. META PLATFORMS, INC.

 disavowal. We therefore must apply the plain and ordinary
 meaning of “asynchronous.” Luminara, 814 F.3d at 1353.
       We agree with the California court that “[t]he language
 of the claims does not indicate that only the client initiates
 communications while the server lacks such functionality,”
 Decision at *7, but it does not follow that the claims require
 the server also be able to initiate communications. We
 therefore construe “asynchronously” to mean that, after in-
 itiation of communication, each side of the communication
 (i.e., the client or server) is free to communicate without
 waiting for the other side. The server need not be, but may
 be, capable of initiating communication. That construction
 is consistent with the specification and the California
 court’s finding that “asynchronous” “in the general com-
 puter programming sense broadly refers to ‘something that
 is not depending on timing,’” with which we see no clear
 error. Decision at *6.
                              III
     MasterObjects argues that the California court should
 not have revisited the issue of claim construction, particu-
 larly without a motion for reconsideration and after the
 close of discovery. Meta argues that a district court is free
 to reassess constructions as a case proceeds, especially
 when, like here, there was no written opinion explaining
 the constructions. Because we reverse the California
 court’s constructions on the merits (i.e., the constructions
 and application of collateral estoppel), we need not reach
 this issue.
                         CONCLUSION
      Because the California court’s decision to grant sum-
 mary judgment of noninfringement was based on its erro-
 neous application of collateral estoppel and constructions
 of “query message” and “asynchronous,” with which we dis-
 agree, the summary judgment decision is reversed, and this
 case is remanded for further proceedings.
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 MASTEROBJECTS, INC. v. META PLATFORMS, INC.               17

                REVERSED AND REMANDED
                           COSTS
 Costs to appellant.