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Big Molecule Watch
January 15, 2016

BREAKING NEWS: SCOTUS to Review Claim Construction Standard at the PTAB

The U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari in Cuozzo Speed Technologies, LLC v. Lee, No. 15-446, to review whether the PTAB applies the correct claim construction standard in post-grant proceedings created by the America Invents Act.  The PTAB currently construes patent claims under the “broadest reasonable interpretation” standard.  On the other hand, district courts apply a narrower “ ‘ordinary and customary meaning’ as understood by a person of ordinary skill in the art in question at the time of the invention” construction to claim terms.  Phillips v. AWH Corp., 415 F. 3d 1303 (Fed. Cir. 2005).

The Supreme Court will also decide whether a patent owner may argue on appeal from a final written decision that a post-grant proceeding should not have been instituted, or whether the statute barring judicial review of institution decisions applies.

This issue has been highly debated, with strong arguments on both sides.  Stay tuned to the Big Molecule Watch Blog for further developments.