Lessons in claim construction from Apple v Samsung

On June 25, 2013, the IP High Court of Japan handed down a decision in a case in which Apple sued Samsung Japan for alleged infringement of a patent. Yoshitaka Sonoda explores the implications.

The plaintiff Apple holds a patent (Japanese patent no. 4204977) entitled ‘Intelligent Synchronization Operation for Media Player,’ claiming the following.

A method for synchronising media contents of a media player with a host computer, said method comprising:

•  Detecting connection of the media player to the host computer;