Federal Circuit Tees Up High Court Reversal of IPR Standard

A split decision in a Federal Circuit court has placed a “hotly contested” aspect of inter partes review proceedings before the U.S. Supreme Court, Faegre Baker Daniels associates Lucas Tomsich and Rick Marsh explained in an article they wrote for Law360. In PPC Broadband Inc. v. Corning Optical Communications, the Supreme Court will have the opportunity to decide if the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board should continue to apply the broadest reasonable interpretation (BRI) standard when construing claims.

“While is it far from certain how the Supreme Court will rule on this issue, the Federal Circuit panel’s clear articulation of the impact of using the BRI standard in PPC Broadband suggests that this issue may be headed toward reversal by the Supreme Court,” the article said.