Kaken Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. v. Iancu (Fed. Cir. Mar. 13, 2020)

The Federal Circuit vacated the Patent Trial and Appeal Board's obviousness determination based on an erroneous construction of the claimed expression "treating a subject having onychomycosis."

According to the CAFC, the Board's construction was inconsistent with the prosecution history (including statements made to overcome a rejection) and statements in the specification (including some relating to the object of the invention) which supported a narrower interpretation.

Read the case here.

#claimconstruction #prosecutionhistory #interpartesreview