IPR PTABCast: IN RE: SMITH INTERNATIONAL, INC.,

Patent owners gain another small victory!

The Patent office’s strongest weapon against patent claim is BRI or “Broadest reasonable interpretation”, but BRI is “unreasonable” when it is contrary to general claims construction principles. The Federal Circuit finds “body: does not mean whatever the examiner thinks it means under BRI especially when the specification uses that term in a very consistent way. Lesson: it pays to be consistent.