PTO Proposes Changes To Claim Construction Standard, Guidelines For Analyzing Burden Of Proof And Subject Matter Eligibility

The US Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) proposed changing the standard for claim construction in America Invents Act post-grant proceedings from the broadest reasonable interpretation (BRI) to the Phillips v. AWH Corp. standard followed by Article III federal courts. The proposal would apply the Phillips claim construction standard to inter partes review (IPR), post-grant review (PGR) and the transitional program for covered business method (CBM) patents. The PTO also proposed to consider any previous claim construction determination of the claims made in a civil action or an International Trade Commission proceeding that is timely made of record in an IPR, PGR or CBM proceeding.