Odetics, Inc. v. Storage Technology Corporation, Visa International Service Association, Inc., Visa Usa, Inc. And Crestar Bank, Inc., Defendants-Cross

I respectfully dissent both from the holding that an analysis of equivalent structure under § 112, ¶ 6, does not permit dissection of the structure corresponding to a recited means and from the conclusion that substantial evidence supports the jury’s finding that the accused structure corresponding to the means was equivalent in this case.

If one is to determine whether the disclosed structure of a claimed means is equivalent to the corresponding structure of an accused device, I do not see how it is possible to do so without looking at what components the structures consist of, ie., by…