A patent prosecutor cannot know how a claim will be interpreted years after a patent issues, and must live with the nightmare possibility that a district court or the PTAB will find that the “broadest reasonable interpretation” (BRI) of a claim renders the patent invalid. In everyday practice, meanwhile, he or she must continually balance the desire to win a broad claim construction from the USPTO (to preserve future enforceability) with the need to tighten the scope (to avoid the prior art).
The panel, which also includes the USPTO expert and two different patent prosecutors, will consider in depth claiming options for a series of hypothetical inventions and accompanying prior art. They will discuss techniques such as using a figure in the application to overcome prior art and “incorporating by reference.”
Speakers:
- Amir Penn, Brinks Gilson & Lione
- John Phillips, Fish & Richardson, PC
- Joseph Weiss, USPTO