Innovative Wireless Solutions loses appeal at CAFC

The outcome of the Ruckus Wireless case:


Innovative Wireless Solutions (“IWS”) appeals the final
judgment of non-infringement of the district court in
the Western District of Texas. IWS challenges the district
court’s conclusion that the asserted patent claims are
limited to wired rather than wireless communications.
Because we find no error in the district court’s construction,
we affirm.



Note


The canons of claim construction provide additional
reason to limit the scope of the claims to wired communication.
If, after applying all other available tools of claim
construction, a claim is ambiguous, it should be construed
to preserve its validity. Phillips, 415 F.3d at 1327. Because
the specification makes no mention of wireless
communications, construing the instant claims to encompass
that subject matter would likely render the claims
invalid for lack of written description. See Gentry Gallery,
Inc. v. Berkline Corp., 134 F.3d 1473, 1480 (Fed. Cir.
1998) (holding that a claim “may be no broader than the
supporting disclosure”). The canon favoring constructions
that preserve claim validity therefore counsels against
construing “communications path” to include wireless
communications.

We conclude that no intrinsic or extrinsic evidence
suggests that “communications path” encompasses wireless
communications. Accordingly, we affirm the district
court’s claim constructions and final judgment of noninfringement
based thereon.