APPLE V SAMSUNG
rate and total time instead of the kind of fi le information that is contained in common fi les, and synchronising media items based on comparisons of such ‘media information’.
T erefore, the expressions ‘media’ and ‘media item’ in the present invention refer to content that can be played on a media player such as music, video or images, and ‘media information’ refers to attributes or characteristics of such media and media items, among which at least the title, artist name and quality characteristics must be included.
On the other hand, ‘file size’, like file name and file update date, is generally associated with common files such as word processor and spreadsheet files, and it cannot be considered to be information that is specific to media items such as music files, so it does not constitute ‘media information’. Furthermore, the meaning of ‘media information’ cannot be considered to be generally established even in view of the evidence submitted by the plaintiff. Even if the expression ‘media information’ were used in one of the references and ‘size’ were included as a species thereof, that is not sufficient to conclude that this is commonly accepted in the art.
“AS LONG AS THE RECITATIONS OF THE CLAIMS ARE CLEAR, THE INVENTION MUST BE CONSTRUED ON THE BASIS OF THE CLAIM RECITATION ALONE, EVEN IF THE SPECIFICATION CONTAINS
CONTRADICTORY DESCRIPTIONS.”
Since both ‘the player media information’ and ‘the host media information’ in the claims use the defi nite article, they must be interpreted to be based on antecedent recitations, and therefore to include ‘at least a title, artist name and quality characteristics as attributes of the media item’.
T e specifi cation describes that as long as specifi c media attributes match, the media items can be considered to be the same (and therefore will not be synchronised) even if they diff er in other attributes or characteristics and are not exact copies. However, as described above, the ‘media information’ clearly must include the title, artist name and quality characteristics, and all of these must be compared according to the claim language, so the claim must not be construed in the absence of this feature.
T e plaintiff argued that when considering
that the ‘media information’ to be compared is limited to ‘title and artist name’ in one of the independent claims, the ‘media information’ to be compared in other independent claims not including this limitation should be interpreted as possibly including ‘media information’ other than ‘title and artist name’. However, this argument is unpersuasive, because it is possible
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World Intellectual Property Review September/October 2013
www.worldipreview.com
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