Merck & Co. v. Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc.

This case shows the consequences of paying only lip service to the often-cited, but rarely-followed lexicographer rule and the basic jurisprudential principle of according trial courts proper deference.

Elect the Lexicographer Option at Your Own Risk

With this court’s claim constructions wavering between the plain meaning rule (often a subtle way for judges to impose their own semantic subjectivity on claim terms, see, e.g., K-2 v. Salomon, 191 F.3d 1356 (Fed.Cir.1999) (“permanent” affixation of the wheels to the skate boot in the context of in-line skates did not include a bolt that could only…