In Thorner v. Sony Computer Entertainment America, LLC (Case No. 2011-1114, Feb. 1, 2012) (Moore*, Rader & Aiken (D. Or. sitting by designation)), the Federal Circuit reiterated the prohibition against importing limitations from the specification and reversed a district court construction depending from consistent uses of the disputed phrase in the specification.

Thorner sued Sony for infringement of U.S. Patent No. 6,422,941, which claims a feedback system for video games. Id. at 2-3 The claimed system involved an actuator that provides tactile feedback to a player when certain events occur in a game. Id. If the player crashes a car, the actuator can vibrate to give tactile feedback to enhance the user experience and to supplement visual and audio effects simulating the crash. Id.

One claim construction dispute centered on the phrase “attached to said pad,” which the district court construed to mean that an actuator was attached to an exterior surface of the pad, based on the ‘941 specification. Thorner v. Sony Computer Entm’t Am. LLC, No. 09-cv-1894, 2010 WL 3811283, at *6 (D.N.J. Sept. 23, 2010). The district court relied on the specification’s use of the term “attached” only in embodiments with an actuator attached to a pad’s outside surface, and contrasted an embodiment which described as “embedded” an actuator inside the pad. Id. After claim construction, the parties stipulated to noninfringement and appealed. Slip Op. at 4.

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