As a community service, an educational series by the

IP and Business Law Offices of Howard L. Hoffenberg, Esq.

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Copyright 2010 The IP and Business Law Offices of Howard L. Hoffenberg, Esq. All Rights Reserved.

Return to Index of Tour of US Supreme Court Patent Cases from 1961 to 1999

HOLDING: (1) The issue of claim construction, including terms of art within the claim, is exclusively within the province of the court. (2) This is because, 18th-century juries did not have interpretive responsibilities; an early Supreme Court case held that the court construes letters of patent; functional considerations show that judges often construe written instruments in that they do so better than jurors and there is importance in uniformity in the treatment of a given patent.

MARKMAN v. WESTVIEW INSTRUMENTS, INC. (April 23, 1996)

 

FACTS: The trial judge granted a directed verdict so as to take away from the jury determining the meaning of the word "inventory" in a patent claim for a system that tracks a dry-cleaning process. Markman contended that this violated the Seventh Amendment right to a jury.

Tour of US Supreme Court Patent Cases from 1961 to 1999

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A Fast and Easy Way to Learn the High Points of Patent Law and Related Anti-trust Law

Community Service and

Pro Bono

In addition to this education series, Mr. Hoffenberg gives of his time to benefit the community and contribute to the quality justice in the State of California. For many years, he served as a volunteer pro tem in the Municipal Court in traffic, landlord-tenant, small claims and short cause matters. Currently, Mr. Hoffenberg serves as a volunteer arbitrator for the Dispute Resolution Service in attorney-client fee disputes and as a quasi-volunteer mediator in the Court of Appeals.