What a difference a day made [interpreting patent claims]

This paper discusses the landmark decision the 12 active judges of the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) made on claim interpretation in the case of Phillipis v. AWH. The court set down in detail an agreed-upon, comprehensive process for interpreting patent claims. In particular, the court clarified a set of conflicting cases on the role of dictionaries in the claim interpretation process.