Bushnell Hawthorne, LLC v. Cisco Systems, Inc.

Filing 133

MEMORANDUM OPINION. Signed by District Judge T. S. Ellis, III on 7/1/19. (klau, )

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF VIRGINIA
Alexandria Division

BUSHNELL HAWTHORNE,LLC,
Plaintiff,
V.

Case No. l:18-cv-760

CISCO SYSTEMS,INC.,
Defendant.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

At issue in this patent infringement action are the parties' proposals regarding the
appropriate construction of certain claim terms recited by plaintiffs patent, U.S. Patent No.
7,933,951 ("the '951 Patent"). Among these proposals is defendant's argument that certain claims

ofthe '951 Patent, including the Patent's sole independent claim, are fatally indefinite. The parties
appeared for a claim construction hearing on May 23, 2019, and this matter, including the issue

whether the '951 Patent is indefinite, has been fully briefed and argued. Accordingly, the parties'
claim construction disputes are now ripe for disposition.
I.

The '951 Patent is entitled "Systems and Methods for Discerning and Controlling
Communication Traffic." The Patent purports to disclose "systems and methods... that allow for

redirection ofcommunication traffic over the Internet based, at least in part, on the type of higherlevel communication protocol intended to be used."See '951 Patent, Abstract.
Claim 1 is the sole independent claim ofthe '951 Patent. The claim reads as follows:

1. A computer system for redirecting Internet communications, said system
comprising:
a first processor that receives information from a computer at a point of origin;