Today, the USPTO announced its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for the Claim Construction Standard used in PTAB Proceedings. As summarized in the Notice:
The United States Patent and Trademark Office ("USPTO" or "Office") proposes changes to the claim construction standard for interpreting claims in inter partes review ("IPR"), post-grant review ("PGR"), and the transitional program for covered business method patents ("CBM") proceedings before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board ("PTAB" or "Board"). In particular, the Office proposes to replace the broadest reasonable interpretation ("BRI") standard for construing unexpired patent claims and proposed claims in these trial proceedings with a standard that is the same as the standard applied in federal district courts and International Trade Commission ("ITC") proceedings. The Office also proposes to amend the rules to add that the Office will consider any prior claim construction determination concerning a term of the involved claim in a civil action, or an ITC proceeding, that is timely made of record in an IPR, PGR, or CBM proceeding.
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