Seven Deadly Pitfalls of Claim Construction

• Date: 01 September 2023
• Author: Jerry A. Riedinger

Published in Landslide, Volume 16, Number 1, 2023. © 2023 by the American Bar Association. Reproduced with permission. All rights reserved. This information or any portion

thereof may not be copied or disseminated in any form or by any means or stored in an electronic database or retrieval system without the express written consent of the

American Bar Association.

41

Seven Deadly Pitfalls

of Claim Construction

Jerry A. Riedinger is a partner at Perkins Coie LLP in Seattle,

Washington. He has spent the last 41 years litigating patent

cases in more than 100 dierent technologies. He can be

reached at jriedinger@perkinscoie.com.

C

laim construction is the heartbeat of patent

litigation and occurs in almost every patent

suit. Many patent litigators consider them-

selves experts, having fought innumerable claim

construction battles across a broad spectrum of

issues. Even novices quickly gain expertise in the

basics of claim construction. Yet pitfalls exist that

can ensnare the unwary, regardless of experience.

The consequences may be large or small, but no

pitfall can be safely ignored. Seven commonly over-

looked pitfalls are discussed below; each presents

varying challenges that create opportunities for even

the best case to crumble.

Jerry A. Riedinger

Image: Getty Images

Published in Landslide, Volume 16, Number 1, 2023. © 2023 by the American Bar Association. Reproduced with permission. All rights reserved. This information or any portion

thereof may not be copied or disseminated in any form or by any means or stored in an electronic database or retrieval system without the express written consent of the

American Bar Association.

41