Certain Cold Cathode Fluorescent Lamp (“CCFL”) Inverter Circuits ...

PUBLIC VERSION
The claims themselves provide substantial guidance as to the meaning of disputed claim
language. Id. at 1314. "[T]he context in which a term is used in the asserted claim can be highly
instructive." Id. Likewise, other claims of the patent at issue, regardless of whether they have
been asserted against respondents, may show the scope and meaning of disputed claim language.
Id.
With respect to claim preambles, a preamble may limit a claimed invention if it (i) recites
essential structure or steps, or (ii) is "necessary to give life, meaning, and vitality" to the claim.
Eaton Corp. v. Rockwell Int'l Corp., 323 F.3d 1332, 1339 (Fed. Cir. 2003) (citations omitted).
The Federal Circuit has explained that a "claim preamble has the import that the claim as a
whole suggests for it. In other words, when the claim drafter chooses to use both the preamble
and the body to define the subject matter ofthe claimed invention, the invention so defined, and
not some other, is the one the patent protects." Id. (quoting Bell Communications Research, Inc.
v. Vitalink Communications Corp., 55 F.3d 615,620 (Fed. Cir. 1995)). When used in a patent
preamble, the term "comprising" is well understood to mean "including but not limited to," and
thus, the claim is open-ended. CIAS, Inc. v. Alliance Gaming Corp., 504 F.3d 1356, 1360 (Fed.
Cir. 2007). The patent term "comprising" permits the inclusion of other unrecited steps,
elements, or materials in addition to those elements or components specified in the claims. Id.
In cases where the meaning of a disputed claim term in the context of the patent's claims
remains uncertain, the specification is the "single best guide to the meaning of a disputed term."
Phillips, 415 F.3d at 1321. Moreover, "[t]he construction that stays true to the claim language
and most naturally aligns with the patent's description of the invention will be, in the end, the
correct construction." Id. at 1316. As a general rule, however, the particular examples or
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