Reissued Patent Claim Did Not Impermissibly Broaden the Scope of the Original Claim

Case: Predicate Logic, Inc. v. Distributive Software, Inc., Fed. Cir. No. 2007-1539 (10/9/08)

The One Sentence Summary: The district court erred in finding that claims for software analysis modified during reexamination were broader and different in scope than original claims.



Federal Circuit Holdings:

• A claim reissued after reexamination was not invalid due to broadening. The reissued claim was no broader because no hypothetical accused process could be conceived that would violate the reissued claim but not the original claim.
• Another reissued claim was not different in scope from the original claim, so activities before reissuance could still be infringing activities.