Extrinsic Contents Not Allowed In Claim Construction

Beijing High Court recently made a ruling in a patent invalidation administrative litigation, vacating the lower court's ruling and affirming the Patent Reexamination Board's decision, which announced the patent concerned invalid. See Judgment: (2014) Gao Xing Zhong Zi No.1198. CCPIT requested for invalidation of the patent as attorneys of the petitioner and got the final success.

The case involved a utility model patent titled "Touch Pattern of Capacitive Touch Panel". The invalidation decision was made on the grounds of lacking novelty or inventive step. The issue at dispute concerns claim construction. The first instance court introduced extrinsic contents not described in the claims and specification to limit the claim scope when construing the claims. The High Court held that the way of interpretation by the lower court should be corrected. The High Court's judgment is significant in guiding claim construction for future invalidation cases.