1. Markman v. Westview Instruments, Inc. It depends on what the meaning of "is" is Mahil M. Keval Mechanical Engineering UC Berkeley IEOR 190G Class of 2009 mahilmkeval@berkeley.edu

2. The Case Herbert Markman and Positek, Inc. patented a system in 1984 for tracking clothing through a dry cleaning system. Westview Instruments, Inc. created a product that similarly tracks clothing through a dry cleaning system. Markman sued Westview Instruments for infringement on the basis that their product did what he had patented years before.

3. The Patent Patent #4550246

4. The Patent

5. The Relevant Patent Claims 1. The inventory control and reporting system, comprising; a data input device for manual operation by an attendant, the input device having switch means operable to encode information relating to sequential transactions, each of the transactions having articles associated therewith, said information including transaction identity and descriptions of each of said articles associated with the transactions;a data processor including memory operable to record said information and means to maintain an inventory total, said data processor having means to associate sequential transactions with unique sequential indicia and to generate at least one report of said total and said transactions, the unique sequential indicia and the descriptions of articles in the sequential transactions being reconcilable against one another;a dot matrix printer operable under control of the data processor to generate a written record of the indicia associated with sequential transactions, the written record including optically-detectable bar codes having a series of contrasting spaced bands, the bar codes being printed only in coincidence with each said transaction and at least part of the written record bearing a portion to be attached to said articles; and,at least one optical scanner connected to the data processor and operable to detect said bar codes on all articles passing a predetermined station,whereby said system can detect and localize spurious additions to inventory as well as spurious deletions therefrom. 14. An inventory control and reporting system, comprising: a data input device having switch means for encoding information related to sequential transactions, each of the transactions having articles associated therewith, said information including transaction identity data and data relating to the transactions;a data processor including memory operable for recording said information, means for generating an inventory report and means for associating sequential transactions with unique indicia sequentially assigned to the transactions and for generating at least one report of said transactions, the unique indicia and the data relating to the transactions being reconcilable against one another;a printer operable under control of the data processor to generate a written record for each of the sequential transactions, the written record including optically-detectable bar codes printed only in substantial coincidence with each said transaction and at least part of the written record bearing a portion to be attached to said articles; and,at least one optical scanner for data communication with the data processor and operable to detect said bar codes on all articles passing a predetermined station.

6. The Relevant Patent Claims 15. The system of claim 14, adapted for specific use in a retail drycleaning establishment, the articles being articles to be cleaned, and comprising additional optical scanners at a plurality of stations along a sequence of retail drycleaning operations including sorting, cleaning and delivery, the indicia and the data relating to the articles being reconcilable at each of said plurality of stations for localizing spurious additions and deletions to and from inventory.

7. Disputed Terms The heart of this case was a dispute over the word "inventory" o Herbert Markman claimed that Westview Instruments was selling a device that infringed upon his patent o Westview Instruments, however, argued that their system did not track "inventory" as Markman's did In the end, the Supreme Court decided to hold the decision of the lower court, siding with Westview

8. Results of the Case Following the Supreme Court decision on this case, it was determined that "judges, not juries, are the better suited to find the acquired meaning of patent terms." - Justice David Souter in the Supreme Court's unanimous Opinion on the case. The greater ramification of this ruling is the creation of so-called Markman hearings, in which a judge will hear the terms of the case and decide upon their meaning This case changed the way patent cases were pursued following its verdict o The importance of these Markman hearings to determine the meaning of patent terms can be the difference between winning and losing in cases that can be worth many millions of dollars

9. References Markman et al. v. Westview Instruments, Inc., et al. (95-26), 517 U.S. 370 (1996). http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/95- 26.ZS.html Accessed 14 Dec 2008http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/95- 26.ZS.html Google Patents. Inventory control and reporting system for drycleaning stores Herbert Markham. http://www.google.com/patents?id=02YYAAAAE BAJ&dq=herbert+markman Accessed 14 Dec 2008 http://www.google.com/patents?id=02YYAAAAE BAJ&dq=herbert+markman