The U.S. Supreme Court Monday decided in Cuozzo Speed Technologies LLC v. Lee that the Patent Trial and Appeal Board can continue to use a claim construction standard to review patents in America Invents Act reviews that is different from the one used in district court. Here, attorneys tell Law360 why the decision is significant.
Kia Freeman, McCarter & English LLP
“Cuozzo confers the PTO with wide discretion as to IPR institution. Under Cuozzo, the PTO’s decision to institute an IPR based on an ‘implicit’ challenge may not be appealable. On the other hand, plain errors in an IPR institution decision that remain uncorrected in the [final written decision] also may not be appealable under Cuozzo. By affirming the PTO’s authority to apply the broadest reasonable construction standard in IPRs, Cuozzo favors uniformity in the construction standard applied by the PTO over that applied by the Court of Appeals. Application of the BRC standard encourages narrow drafting of application claims, and less concern with prosecution history in IPRs.”