Difficulty In Articulating Description Is Relevant To A Determination Of Indefiniteness

In Xerox Corp. v. 3Com Corp , (No. 04-1470), the Federal Circuit reverses in part, vacates in part and remands the district court's summary judgment of invalidity of U.S. Patent No. 5,596,656 (“the ‘656 patent'). Xerox brought suit against 3COM alleging infringement of the ‘656 patent by the “Graffiti” system used in 3Com's PalmPilot devices. The Federal Circuit, which had previously remanded this case on two separate occasions, finds that the district court erred in concluding the term “sloppiness space” is insolubly ambiguous and thereby invalid. The specification, although not considered as providing a rigorously precise description, is deemed nonetheless to provide adequate guidance, “particularly in light of the difficulty in articulating a more exact standard for the concept.”