Different Infringement, Different Issue: Altering Issue Preclusion as Applied to Claim Construction.

The article discusses the issue preclusion of a court's patent claim construction in the U.S. It mentions that the interpretation of the said claim stands as an issue by itself for collateral evidence rule purposes. It points out that the preclusion should be only used to the joint issue of claim construction with infringement rather than as a solitary issue. An overview of circumstances for the construction of claims is also presented.