Like every en banc Federal Circuit decision, the Court’s decision in Williamson v. Citrix Online, LLC, No. 2013-1130 (Fed. Cir. June 16, 2015) (en banc) made big headlines. It is, therefore, worth reviewing one of the first PTAB decisions to address the contours of that case in an inter partes review context in Toyota Motor Corp. v. Cellport Sys., Inc., IPR2015-00633, where the Board granted an IPR trial with respect to some claims, but denied as to others.

The first means-plus-function issue related to the claim limitation: “controller means including processing means in the vehicle for controlling the sending and receiving of said information using said wireless device between said first remote station and the vehicle.” More specifically, the Board had to decide the scope of both “controller means” and “processing means.”

The Board recognized that both terms were presumptively means-plus-function limitations pursuant to the Williamson decision. In rendering its claim construction determination, however, the Board agreed with Patent Owner that “controlling means” was not subject to 35 USC § 112, paragraph 6 because: 1) the language of the claim did not link the “controller means” to a specific recited function, and 2) the claim specifies detailed structure sufficient to overcome any recited or implicit function, e.g., controlling. Order at 13. Instead, the Board concluded that the recited function was associated with the “processing means” and “controller means” was simply a controller.

The Board also agreed with Patent Owner relative to the second means-plus-function issue related to limitation: “first standard network communication means.” In evaluating this limitation, the Board first instructed that the proper function for a means-plus-function limitation is the function recited in the claim. As such, the Board accepted Patent Owner’s articulation of the proper function. Then, using this function, the Board evaluated Petitioner’s proposal for corresponding structure and found that the structure identified by Petitioner was not “clearly associated or linked in the Specification to the recited function…” Order at 16.

In view of these claim construction determinations, Petitioner faced an uphill battle in having all claims put into the trial. For example, the Board explained that, for means-plus-function limitations, Petitioner is required to show that both the recited function and the corresponding structure are present in the applied references. Id. at 19. Losing the claim construction ruling made it impossible for Petitioner to win the issue of showing that the “first standard network communication means” was discussed in the Petition.