For AIA trial petitions filed after November 12, 2018, the
Patent Trial and Appeal Board will construe claims challenged and
proposed to be amended (narrowed) in these proceedings using the
same claim construction standard that is used to construe the claim
in a civil action in federal district court. See Phillips v.
AWH Corp., 415 F.3d 1303 (Fed. Cir. 2005) (en banc). In these
trials, the Board will also consider claim construction
determinations made in proceedings in district courts or the
International Trade Commission. A recent Federal Register notice includes the text of rules the Patent
Office revised to implement these changes.
The Patent Office proposed and invited comments on these changes
in a May 2018 notice in the Federal Register (discussed
here). Hundreds of entities responded. Although most supported
the change in the claim construction standard, some opposed. Those
opposing argued that Congress intended the Office use the broadest
reasonable
