Golden Voice Tech & Train. v. Rockwell Firstpoint
| Decision Date | 20 May 2003 |
| Docket Number | No. 601CV1036ORL19JGG.,601CV1036ORL19JGG. |
| Citation | 267 F.Supp.2d 1190 |
| Parties | GOLDEN VOICE TECHNOLOGY & TRAINING, L.L.C. Plaintiff, v. ROCKWELL FIRSTPOINT CONTACT CORPORATION (f/k/a Rockwell Electronic Commerce Corporation), and Conexant Systems, Inc., Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Middle District of Florida |
Steven Roger Schooley, Holland & Knight, LLP, Orlando, FL, Lee F. Grossman, Gina M. Steele, Rashmi V. Gupta, Mark H. Izraelewicz, Thomas I. Ross, Marshall, Gerstein & Borun, Chicago, IL, for Plaintiff.
Ronald Mark Schirtzer, Michael David Crosbie, Foley & Lardner, Orlando, FL, Richard W. McLaren, Jr., James A. Scheer, Welsh & Katz, Ltd., Chicago, IL, Richard S. Florsheim, Foley & Lardner, Milwaukee, WI, Larry L. Shatzer, Foley & Lardner, Washington, DC, Chelise
Anderson, Foley & Lardner, Milwaukee, WI, for Defendants.
This case comes before the Court upon the following:
1. Report and Recommendation of the Magistrate Judge (Doc. No. 140).
2. Objections of Defendants to Report and Recommendation on Claim Construction and Request for Oral Argument (Doc. No. 142); and Plaintiffs Response to Defendants' Objections to the Magistrate Judge's Report and Recommendation on Claim Construction (Doc. No. 146).
This is a patent infringement suit. Plaintiff Golden Voice Technology and Training, L.L.C. ("Golden Voice") alleges that Defendants Rockwell FirstPoint Contact Corporation ("Rockwell") and Conexant Systems, Inc. ("Conexant") have infringed U.S. Patent No. 4,623,761 (the "761 patent") and U.S. Patent No. 4,697,282 (the "282 patent"). Alleged as infringed are claims 1, 13, 25, and 33 of the '761 patent and claims 1, 10, and 21 of the '282 patent. The parties filed motions asking this Court to construe certain claims in these patents. Doc. Nos. 121, 122. The Court referred these motions to the Magistrate Judge who held a Markman hearing on February 11, 2003.1 The Magistrate Judge characterized the issues before the Court as follows.2
Both the '761 and '282 patents are entitled "Telephone Operator Voice Storage And Retrieval System," and identify the same inventors. The Exhibit ("DX") 1, Doc. No. 139. The '282 patent issued on September 29, 1997, based upon a patent application filed June 20, 1986, as a "continuation" of the '761 patent application. DX 2, Doc. No. 139. The '282 patent application specification (written description and drawings) is a duplicate of the '761 patent application specification.
The Golden Voice patents disclose a telephone call answering system that assists call operators, or agents, in servicing incoming calls. Using the patented technology, an operator records and stores one or more frequently repeated phrases (e.g., greetings, regulatory statements, disclaimers, transfer phrases), also known as personal announcements, in his or her own voice. When the operator receives an incoming call, he or she can play one of the prerecorded messages. The operator remains on-line to talk vrith the caller, or to select and play back additional personal announcements as required. Prerecorded personal announcements relieve the operator of having to orally repeat certain phrases throughout the day. The prerecorded personal announcement is recorded in the operator's best voice, so it sounds pleasant to every caller throughout the day. Moreover, because the prerecorded message is in the voice of the operator, the caller believes he or she is actually hearing the live operator, and at the same time, the operator is on-line to fully service the caller.
The claims at issue are the independent claims 1, 13, and 25 of the '761 patent, and the independent claims 1, 10, and 21 of the '282 patent.3 The '761 and '282 patents are closely related; the description of the invention that precedes the claims is virtually identical. Indeed, the language of claims 1, 13, 25 of the '761 patent is identical to the language of claims 1, 10, 21 of the '282 patent except in one respect that is not material to this case. Because this difference in the claim language is not pertinent to the claim construction issues before the Court, the parties agree that construction of the claim language of claims 1, 13, and 25 of the '761 patent apply equally to the corresponding claims of the '282 patent.
Claim 1 of the '761 patent contains all of the disputed claim limitations at issue. The disputed claim language of claim 1 is underlined below:
For use with an operator-assisted telephone service facility in which on-line participation by an on-line operator is required for effectively enabling an incoming caller to reach a called destination, an arrangement for providing a response message to said incoming caller accessing said facility comprising: first operational means for storing a plurality of prescribed response messages, each of which, when played back, effectively corresponds to the voice of the operator who is on-line with and services incoming calls; and second operational means, coupled to said first operational means and operable in conjunction with the on-line operator's servicing of an incoming call, for selectively accessing a response message from among said plurality of stored response messages in dependence upon information contained within said incoming call being serviced by said on-line operator and which is representative of the type of call to which said incoming call corresponds, and causing said selectively said accessed response message to be played back to said incoming caller.
The disagreement between the parties concerns the two underlined limitations appearing in the above claim. First, the parties dispute the meaning of the following phrase in the preamble of claims 1, 13, 25 of the '761 patent and claims 1, 10, and 21 of the '282 patent: "in which on-line participation by an on-line operator is required for effectively enabling an incoming caller to reach a called destination." Rockwell asks this Court to construe this phrase to mean:
in which it is necessary for an on-line operator to participate on-line to effectively enable an incoming caller to reach the physical location to which the caller is to be connected. The claims exclude systems which enable connection of a caller to a called destination, without operator intervention, even if such systems also allow operators to make connections manually.
Doc. No. 121 at 7. Golden Voice proposes the following construction:
in which operators, also known as agents, are on-line to service or assist them in completing the purpose of the call.
The second disputed phrase is "effectively corresponds to the voice of the online operator" in the first element of claims 1, 13, 25 of the '761 patent and claims 1, 10, and 21 of the '282 patent. Rockwell defines "effectively corresponds" as requiring "adjustment by automatic level control circuitry to ensure that there is effectively no difference in the audio level of the recorded voice played back to the caller and the `live' voice spoken by the operator." Doc. No. 121 at 15. Golden Voice contends that this limitation simply means that the prerecorded message of the operator must be in "his or her own voice." Doc. No. 128 at 8. The Magistrate Judge recommended that Golden Voice's interpretations be accepted as the correct construction of the claims in issue.
After a Magistrate Judge issues a Report and Recommendation, the District Judge must make a de novo determination of the findings and/or recommendations to which any party objects. 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1)(B). After reviewing the Report and Recommendation, objections, and response thereto, the District Judge "may accept, reject, or modify, in whole or in part," the findings and recommendations made by the Magistrate. Id.
A patent infringement analysis involves two steps. The first step is determining the meaning and scope of the patent claims that are asserted to be infringed. In accordance with Markman v. Westview Instruments, Inc., 517 U.S. 370, 116 S.Ct. 1384, 134 L.Ed.2d 577 (1996), this first step-referred to as claim construction—is a matter of law for the Court to decide and on which the Court instructs the jury. The jury then performs the second step, which is the determination of infringement, by comparing the properly construed claims to the accused product.
Claim interpretation begins with the Court's analysis of the actual language of the claim. It is well settled that, "as a general rule, all terms in a patent claim are to be given their plain, ordinary and accustomed meaning to one of ordinary skill in the relevant art." Rexnord Corp. v. Laitram Corp., 274 F.3d 1336, 1342 (Fed.Cir.2001). Reasonably enough, dictionary definitions may establish a claim term's ordinary meaning. CCS Fitness, Inc. v. Brunswick Corporation, 288 F.3d 1359, 1366 (Fed.Cir.2002)(citing Rexnord Corp. v. Laitram Corp., 274 F.3d at 1344 ()); See also Renishaw PLC v. Marposs Societa' per Azioni, 158 F.3d 1243, 1250 (Fed.Cir.1998)("noting that the meaning of a claim may come from a `relevant dictionary' so long as the definition does not fly `in the face of the patent disclosure'").
There is a heavy presumption in favor of the ordinary meaning of claim language. Bell Atlantic Network Services, Inc. v. Covad Communications Group, Inc., 262 F.3d 1258, 1268 (Fed.Cir.2001). However, the literal language of a claim cannot be the starting and ending point for determining its scope. The Court must also look to the intrinsic evidence of record, i.e., the patent itself, including the claims, the specification, and the patent application prosecution history. While it is the claims that define the invention, claim terms are interpreted in light of the...
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