Claim Requiring Mathematically Impossible Calculation Deemed Indefinite

The court granted plaintiff's motion for summary judgment that one of defendant's Coriolis flowmeter patents was invalid as indefinite following claim construction because the claims required a calculation that was mathematically impossible. "It is undisputed that the normalized pulsation is represented by a single number. . . . It is also undisputed that calculating a dot product requires a sequence of numbers. Accordingly, as [plaintiff] argues, calculating a dot product where one of the inputs is a single number is mathematically impossible. . . . [Defendant] suggests that a skilled artisan would understand the error of the claims and discern the intent of the inventor by ignoring the literal language of the claims. . . . The Court is not permitted to rewrite unambiguous patent claims simply because the process claimed cannot be performed as the patentee intended."

Invensys Systems, Inc. v. Emerson Electric Co. et al, 6-12-cv-00799 (TXED August 6, 2014, Order) (Davis, J.)