Fantasy Sports Properties, Inc. v. Sportsline.com, Inc.
United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
287 F.3d 1108 (2002)
- Written by Alexander Hager-DeMyer, JD
Facts
Fantasy Sports Properties, Inc. (Fantasy) (plaintiff) held the ’603 patent for a computerized fantasy-football game. The patent specification described fantasy teams based on actual professional football players. Each player received weekly points based on his performance in real professional football games. Players received the standard number of points for a particular play in an actual game and could also receive bonus points. The specification stated that points were awarded for a scoring play and that bonus points were also awarded based on the difficulty of the play. The specification then provided examples of plays that were eligible for bonus points, such as players scoring touchdowns in a manner not usually associated with their position. In its application, Fantasy cited a prior-art publication called “All-Pro Yearbook – 1987” (the article). The article described a version of fantasy football, including a scoring method that assigned points based on total yardage or distance scoring. The patent examiner rejected Fantasy’s initial claims for excessive similarity to the article’s point system based on non-scoring factors. Fantasy amended the claims to include the bonus-point language and limitations, and the examiner accepted the changes. Sportsline.com, Inc., Yahoo! Inc., and ESPN/Starwave Partners (the competitors) (defendants) developed computerized fantasy-football games that awarded points to players based on real game performance. Sportsline.com also created the Commissioner.com product, which allowed users to customize their own fantasy league, including point systems. Fantasy sued the competitors for infringing its bonus-point system. The district court determined that the language and prosecution history of Fantasy’s bonus-point limitation exclusively defined bonus points as additional points awarded beyond those given in an actual football game for unusual scoring plays, such as players scoring in a way not typical of their position. Under this construction, the court granted summary judgment for the competitors. Fantasy appealed.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Lourie, J.)
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