After the court has construed the claims, many times the claim construction leaves the plaintiff without a case. For example, if a claim term is construed by the court as "means plus function" thereby incorporating structure from the specification into the claim, it almost always becomes impossible for the Plaintiff to prove infringement. Alternatively, a court's claim construction may be broad enough so that the claim reads on prior art, thereby invalidating the claim as being anticipated or rendered obvious by the prior art. Accordingly, in these situations the Defendant may file for Summary Judgement in order to dispose of the infringement claims. Alternatively, a motion for summary judgement may be filed after expert discovery, for example, when an expert is unable to identify with specificity how the Defendant's accused devices infringe the claims.
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