Law360, New York (February 29, 2016, 11:14 AM EST) -- In the still-new era of post-grant trials at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, Cuozzo Speed Technologies LLC v. Lee is a prodigy of firsts: the first-filed inter partes review petition;[1] the first final written decision of the PTAB to be reviewed by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit;[2] the first such decision denied rehearing en banc;[3] and the first such decision to reach the U.S. Supreme Court.[4] Along the way, the original petitioner, Garmin International, settled out of the case,[5] leaving a dispute between the patent owner, Cuozzo and the United States Patent and Trademark Office (embodied by its director, Michelle Lee) over two fundamental questions regarding PTAB trials: (1) whether the PTAB may use the broadest reasonable interpretation standard for claim construction rather than the standard used in courts; and (2) whether a USPTO decision to institute a trial is unreviewable, even if the USPTO exceeds its authority. The Supreme Court granted certiorari on these two questions, but not on the related (but poorly preserved) question of PTAB claim amendment practice. Meanwhile, Congress is contemplating legislation that would eliminate the BRI standard without addressing claim amendment practice.[6]...