Wireless network patents held valid but not infringed
Autocell Laboratories, Inc. v. Cisco Systems Inc., Civ. No. 08-760-SLR, January 5, 2011.
Robinson, J. Defendant’s motion for summary judgment of noninfringement is granted. Plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment of infringement is denied. Defendant’s motions for summary judgment of invalidity are denied.
The disputed technology relates to patents directed to systems and methods for managing wireless networks. The complaint filed on October 8, 2008, alleges three patents are infringed. The court first construes four disputed claim terms in accordance with defendant’s proposed constructions. Since all of defendant’s invalidity arguments were based on plaintiff’s proposed claim constructions, defendants’ arguments are rejected and the invalidity motion is denied. The court finds that because defendant’s products directly set stations, maximum transmit power value, they do not infringe the asserted claims as a matter of law. Here, the patent's prosecution history overcomes the presumption found in the doctrine of claim differentiation. Plaintiffs statement during prosecution limited the transmit power backoff to an attenuated value based on the maximum transmit power of the access point. Because defendant's accused product does not specify the amount by which the access points transmit power level has been reduced, but instead specifies its current maximum transmit power levels, defendant's products do not literally infringe the asserted claims as a matter of law.
