Red-Lining Revelations: Edits between Patent Families Continue to be Highly Relevant to Claim Construction
Patent – Patently-O 2025-08-05
Summary:
by Dennis Crouch
The Federal Circuit recently expanded its doctrine associated with specification changes in family member patent applications -- using minor changes in the specification justify differing claim construction across a patent family. FMC Corporation v. Sharda USA, LLC, No. 24-2335 (Fed. Cir. Aug. 1, 2025). This is helpful for careful patent attorneys, but also requires care when drafting non-provisional applications claiming priority back to a provisional. Notably, in both FMC and the 2024 DDR case, the construction hurt the patentee.
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