It's being reported that initially the district court sided with Apple on summary judgment, finding no infringement and now on appeal, the Federal Circuit has affirmed, holding that Apple’s accused Bluetooth products do not infringe One-E-Way’s patents. 

Although the parties had agreed to the construction of the “unique user code” term, they disagreed over the construction-of-the-construction.  On appeal, the court treated this meta-construction effectively as a form of claim construction — looking for the ordinary meaning rather than a contract-like interpretation that would have looked more toward discerning the intent of the parties.

One-E-Way sued Apple for infringing the claims of two patents related to a wireless digital audio system that allows private listening without interference. The system uses a transmitter connected to an audio source and a receiver connected to headphones. The transmitter contains a code generator that generates a “unique user code” associated with a specific user to allow pairing between the transmitter and receiver.

On appeal, One-E-Way argued that the “unique user code” limitation is still met by Apple’s accused Bluetooth products. Specifically, One-E-Way contended that even though the Bluetooth address codes are associated with devices, the codes are still associated with individual users through operation of the device.

The Federal Circuit rejected this argument, finding that it was inconsistent the claim construction which clearly states the code is associated with “one user.” rather than the device itself.  Even if the Bluetooth address code is associated with a user through use of the device, the code remains fundamentally associated with the device.

The Federal Circuit found no evidence that the code itself becomes directly linked to the user, rather than the device, through pairing and use. For more, read the full report by Patentlyo.