Magna Carta Holdings, LLC v. Nextgen Healthcare Information Sys., Inc., No. 08 C 7406, Slip Op. (N.D. Ill. Mar. 9, 2012) (Kendall, J.).

Judge Kendall construed a key term in this patent litigation – the Comparator Term – after the parties each acknowledged that the Comparator Term’s construction would likely resolve the case.  The Court construed the Comparator Term before the full claim construction process, similar to the “Mini-Markman” process that Chief Judge Davis had been employing to great effect in the E.D. Texas.

The Court construed the Comparator Term as follows:

A software tool or data structure that examines one thing to see if it is analogous to a second thing, the two things being: (1) predetermined code words, numbers or symbols recorded on a physical or electronic form; and (2) a longer written description of medical information assigned to the particular code word, number or symbol.  The comparator does not, by itself, decode the predetermined code words, numbers or symbols into the longer written descriptions of medical information.

The Court ordered that the parties meet and confer regarding any additional proceedings necessary in light of the Court’s construction.