Neonode – Appeal notes, part 1 (of 2)

This post will deal with Samsung’s response (in appeal at Court of Appeals), filed February 2024.

Short back story; Patent 8,095,879 was deemed indefinite, due to the following expression;
wherein the representation consists of only one option for activating the function

In this response, Samsung now wants to add the term “gliding” as indefinite. Seemingly worried that the first indefinite decision being overturned.

Initially, Samsung just repeats its old arguments, and think judgement should remain.
They argue back and forth, but their arguments are quite messy and adds nothing new..
In addition, court never agreed on Samsung’s “3 different interpretations” (as Samsung states)

Later, Samsung then adds a new term they think is indefinite. This term, gliding, is not found anywhere else (claims nor specification)
District court ruled “gliding” to be not indefinite and adopted a construction of “plain and ordinary meaning, not including dragging, flicking, or a drag and drop operation.”
Pretty clear to me, this is nitpicking by Samsung, everyone knows what gliding would mean when this patent was filed. This is/was obvious for everyone in the industry back then.
Hand held devices with touch screens were widely adopted and available at the time. Some example models;
*Palm Pilot
*SonyEricsson P800 (released 2002)
*Ericsson R380 (released 2000)
*iPAQ

This is ludicrous and a very thinly substantiated argument by Samsung.
Samsung even themselves cites; “The specification describes the “movement” of an object along the touch-sensitive area”
Which pretty clear describes what gliding is…!!!

Samsung appears to be ridiculing a person of ordinary skill in the art (POSITA), who, with the provided explanation, can readily grasp its meaning (and its limitations).

Samsung even helps making Neonode’s argument with the following figure:

SUMMARY

There really isn’t much that’s new here! Besides the new gliding argument, which falls pretty flat.
Note: It is not illegal to have different opinions and take different positions, as long as the court in the end can determine what the claim scope is!

But reading this (overlong) document, it is clear that Samsung will spend millions on this case to avoid trial. They will not stand down.

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Stay tuned for part 2, which deals with Neonode’s (final) response in the appeal proceedings.

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