Claim-Based Analysis Required for Pre-AIA Patents Only

One of the more confusing developments in patent law was pronounced in Dynamic Drinkware v. Nat’l Graphics, Inc., 800 F.3d 1375, 1378 (Fed. Cir. 2015). In Dynamic the Court held that a provisional application’s effectiveness as prior art under 102(e) depends on its written description support for the claims of the issued patent. In other words, if the patent claims ABC, and C is not supported in the provisional, the provisional loses 102(e) prior art status for all of its disclosure. So, if looking to use the provisional date for AB alone, which is supported, the claim-based analysis would still prevent such reliance.

The applicability of the strange claim-driven analysis of Dynamic was recently considered relative to AIA patents. Today’s precedential PTAB decision makes clear that the AIA statutory framework dispensed with this faulty claim-centric scheme.Continue Reading Dynamic Drinkware Analysis Unnecessary for AIA Patents