Addressing claim construction issues in inter partes
review (IPR) proceedings before the Patent Trial & Appeal Board
(Board), the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed
an obviousness finding as to some claims but reversed and remanded
an obviousness finding as to another claim because of a claim
construction error. VLSI Technology LLC v. Intel
Corporation, Case Nos. 21-1826, -1827, -1828 (Fed. Cir. Nov.
15, 2022) (Chen, Bryson, Hughes, JJ.)
VLSI owns a patent directed to a technique for alleviating the
problems of defects caused by stress applied to bond pads of an
integrated circuit. Bond pads are a portion of an integrated
circuit that sit above interconnected circuit layers and are used
to attach the chip to another electronic component, such as a
computer or motherboard. When a chip is attached to another
electronic component, forces are exerted on the chip's bond
pad, which can result in damage to the interconnect layers. The
patent discloses
