Inphi Corp. v. Netlist, Inc.
Do negative claim limitations need to adhere to a heightened
written description standard? That was the question the U.S. Court
of Appeals for the Federal Circuit addressed in an appeal from a
inter partes reexamination, rejecting a heightened
standard, the Court concluded that "properly described,
alternative features are sufficient to satisfy the written
description standard of 35 U.S.C. § 112, ¶ 1."
Inphi Corp. v. Netlist, Inc., Case No. 15-1179 (Fed. Cir.,
Nov. 13, 2015) (O'Malley, J.).
Inphi petitioned for inter partes reexamination of a
Netlist patent directed to a memory module. After the examiner
rejected more than 30 claims as obvious, the patent owner, Netlist,
amended the claims to include a negative limitation, after which
the examiner withdrew his objections.
