Bobel v. MaxLite, Inc., No. 12 C 5346, Slip Op. (N.D. Ill. Feb. 5, 2014) (St. Eve, J.).

Judge St. Eve construed the disputed terms in this patent litigation related to compact fluorescent lamps.  Of particular note, the Court held as follows:

  • Resonate Boosting Circuit was construed as “a circuit comprising (i) boosting inductance connected in circuit between the AC input terminals and (ii) boosting capacitance, comprising one or more capacitors, connected in parallel with selected one or more diodes of the rectifier circuit.”
  • Power Line Voltage Rectifier was construed as “a device that converts the AC signal from an alternating voltage source into a pulsating DC signal at the output of the rectifier, with such device including at least two diodes, each of which connects on one side to the AC power line.”
  • Integrated Into was construed as “physically combined into.”
  • A Resonant Boosting Circuit Integrated Into the Power Line Voltage Rectifier was construed as “a circuit operable to provide between the DC terminals a variable DC voltage having an absolute peak magnitude higher than the absolute peak magnitude of a rectified voltage of the alternative voltage source, and the resonant boosting circuit comprising: (i) boosting inductance connected in circuit between the AC input terminals and the alternating voltage source, and (ii) boosting capacitance comprising one or more capacitors connected in parallel with one or more unidirectional devices of the rectifier circuit.”  Because the term was a combination of the previously construed terms, the term was construed consistent with those constructions.
  • Parallels was construed as “of or denoting electrical components or circuits connected to common points at each end, rather than one to another in sequence.”  This construction was based upon a dictionary definition.

The Court helpfully closed its opinion with a chart listing its constructions.