Unless dictated otherwise by context, the term “storing” requires not only holding an object but also putting it into storage in the first place. Here, for example, means for “storing” a record on or in a physical medium was found to require a structure for not only maintaining the record in a physical medium, but also getting it there to begin with. “The word ‘storing’ itself implies both putting into and holding in storage.” It may therefore be best to further define the term “storing” as requiring only the holding of an object when covering embodiments such as storage vessels, computer-readable media, and so on.
Background / Facts: The patents being asserted here are directed to systems and methods of purchasing downloadable content from the Internet. Rather than purchasing the content directly through the Internet, the buyer goes to a retail store to pay for the item in person and obtains a web address specific to the item sold that will enable its download. The claims recite “means for storing and retrieving” the web address “on or in a physical medium.” The specification describes a floppy disk and an otherwise generic computer.
Issue(s): Whether the claimed “storing” function requires that the corresponding structure be capable of putting the web address into storage as well as holding it there.
Holding(s): Yes. “The word ‘storing’ itself implies both putting into and holding in storage. See Store, Merriam Webster Dictionary (2015) (‘to put … in a place where it is available, where it can be kept safely, etc.’). The [patentees] point to no language in the claims or specification that would support their contrary construction. The [patentees’] argument by analogy, that ‘store rooms, filing cabinets, cans, bottles, and similar devices’ are properly understood as ‘storage’ devices despite their inability to ‘put things into themselves,’ is inapposite. Claim terms must be construed in light of the context in which they appear. [] In the context of storing ‘a record on or in a physical medium,’ it is apparent that ‘store’ implies not only maintaining the record in a physical medium, but also getting it there to begin with.”