NOTE: Pursuant to Fed. Cir. R. 47.6, this disposition
is not citable as precedent. It is a public record.
United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
03-1548, -1627
CATALINA MARKETING INTERNATIONAL, INC.,
Plaintiff-Appellant,
v.
COOLSAVINGS.COM, INC. and COOLSAVINGS, INC.,
Defendants-Appellees,
and
LANDMARK COMMUNICATIONS, INC.
and LANDMARK VENTURES VII, LLC,
Defendants-Appellees.
__________________________
DECIDED: November 19, 2004
__________________________
Before MICHEL, RADER, and PROST, Circuit Judges.
PROST, Circuit Judge.
Catalina Marketing International, Inc. (“Catalina”) owns Patent No. 4,674,041
(“the ’041 patent”) entitled “Method and Apparatus for Controlling the Distribution of
Coupons.” The Catalina device was intended to oversee the distribution of coupons
from electronic terminals at the point of sale. Coolsavings.com, Inc. (“Coolsavings”)
runs an Internet web site that uses inputted user demographic information to target
coupon offers for various products to potential customers.
Catalina sued Coolsavings in the District Court for the Northern District of Illinois
for infringement of claim 1 of the ’041 patent. The district court conducted a Markman
hearing and construed key claim terms. After the district court’s claim construction
order was issued, Catalina conceded that it could not prove infringement given the
district court’s claim construction and stipulated to a dismissal of its infringement
complaint.
Catalina now appeals the dismissal, challenging the district court’s claim
construction ruling to this court. Because we find no error in the district court’s claim
construction, we affirm.
BACKGROUND
Claim 1 of the ’041 patent recites a coupon-dispensing terminal that comprises,
among other things:
activation means for activating [the] terminal for consumer
transactions
. . . .
display means operatively connected with said activation
mean