Keithley v. The Homestore.com, Inc. (PDF)
Decided Sept. 10, 2007
Judge Jenkins

Judge Jenkins construes 10 disputed claim terms in this claim construction order. The patent at issue relates to

method[s] of accessing industry specific information, such as real estate properties for sale, through multimedia personal computers.

Of particular interest is the court’s construction of the means-plus-function term “media means for receiving analog and digitized data and transmitting digitized data.” Keithley proposed the term be construed to include “receiving analog or digitized data” and pointed to parts of the specification that allegedly disclosed the corresponding structure of the means-plus-function provision. Homestore.com, however, alleged that the patentee failed to disclose adequate structure for the means-plus-function provision in the specification, thereby rendering the claim invalid. The court found the specification provided sufficient structural disclosure to support the means-plus-function provision, and construed the provision in light of this disclosure.