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Dictionary Dethroned: Phillips v. AWH Corporation

By Abraham P. Ronai

To rely on the dictionary or not to rely on the dictionary, and to what extent, that is the question. A question which after frenzied anticipation by the patent bar, the en banc U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, in its July 12, 2005 landmark decision of Phillips v. AWH Corp., No. 03-1269, -1286, 2005 U.S. App. LEXIS 13954 (Fed. Cir. July 12, 2005), has answered: While dictionaries may be useful to assist in the understanding of a commonly understood meaning of a claim term, the proper starting point is the patent specification and corresponding prosecution history.

The Phillips case hinged on the meaning of the claim term “baffle” in U.S. Patent No. 4,677,798, relating to vandalism-resistant modular wall panels invented by Edward Phillips. The Federal Circuit disagreed with the district court's claim construction and reversed the summary judgment of noninfringement. In so doing, the Federal Circuit overturned an earlier determination by a three-judge panel of the same court, in which the judges agreed with the district court that Phillips' patent was limited to baffles positioned at certain angles and, thus, that his patent was not infringed.

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