On June 20, 2016, the Supreme Court issued its decision in Cuozzo Speed Technologies, LLC v. Lee (available here). The decision had two notable holdings. First, the Supreme Court held that the Patent Office could properly implement its regulation that, in an inter partes review, a patent claim shall be construed according to “its broadest reasonable construction.” In so holding, the Supreme Court rejected the argument that the Patent Office should, like courts, give claims their “ordinary meaning . . . as understood by a person of skill in the art.” This holding was principally based on Chevron deference.
Second, the Supreme Court held that Section 341(d) of the America Invents Act, which provides that “[t]he determination by the Director [of the Patent Office] whether to institute an inter partes review under this section shall be final and non-appealable” bars “mine-run claim[s]” involving the Patent Office’s decision to institute inter partes review, although it may not bar consideration of, for example, a constitutional question.