EFF: Our Broken Patent System at Work: Patent Owner Insists the "Integers" Do Not Include the Number One

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) Deeplinks blog has an almost amusing account of a patent holder trying to define "integer" as a whole number greater than one. It seems that this strategy is likely to fail, but there is, of course, a cost associated with refuting such a ridiculous definition. "To be clear: the law allows patent applicants to redefine words if they want. But the law also says they have to be clear that they are doing that (and in any event, they shouldn't be able to do it years after the patent issues, in the middle of litigation). In Core Wireless' patent, there is no indication that it used the word "integer" to mean anything other than what we all learn in high school. (Importantly, the word "integer" doesn't appear in the patent anywhere other than in the claims.)It appears that Core Wireless is attempting to redefine a word-a word the patent applicant freely chose-because presumably otherwise its lawsuit will fail."