Philips Electronics Can't Overturn Interference Ruling

In the United States (at least for the time being), the first person to invent has superior rights in a dispute involving multiple claims covering the same subject matter. According to a decision by the USPTO's Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences, an inventor at Philips Electronics, Morgan, was not the first to invent certain defibrillator methods claimed in US Patent No. 6,241,751.

The invention claimed in the '741 patent involved considering patient impedance levels and adjusting the pulse of the defibrillator in response to those impedance levels. According to the Board, an inventor at Cardiac Science, Owen, was the first to invent defibrillators with this capability. Philips asked the USDC here in Seattle to review the Board's decision under 35 USC section 146, and Judge Pechman affirmed the Board on all issues. Most notably, Judge Pechman decided that the Board was not required to construe the terms "impedance-compensated defiblliation pulse," because no matter how those terms were construed, the specific interpretation would not have impacted the Board's ultimate decision.

From Judge Pechman's order:

The issue presented by this motion is whether the Board erred in failing to construe the
claim “impedance-compensated defibrillation pulse.” The Board never made a single decision
not to construe the claim, but instead determined that claim construction was not necessary to resolve Philips’ preliminary motions. No authority suggests that the Board is required to
perform claim construction when it is not necessary to decide an issue presented in a party’s
motion.

phillips146action_orderdismissining.pdf