Patent Claim Construction is the process by which a patent owner’s invention is defined.  The claims are the boundary and scope of the patent owner’s right to exclude others from practicing the invention.  Patent claim construction is at the heart of most infringement, non-infringement, design around, willfulness, equivalvence, and invalidity analysis. 

Courts interpret the language in a patent claim based on a variety of what are called claim construction principles.  Many of these are similar or analogous to statutory construction principles.  Courts typically interpret the claims in the context of what is called a Markman hearing.  Since the main focus of most patent litigation is claim construction, here is a copy of the Federal Circuit’s decisions on claim construction published by the IPLAC litigation committee.  

Enjoy and thanks! 

 A Review of the Federal Circuit’s Claim Construction Cases for 2005