This report pr ovides an overview and analysis of the two patent cases decided by the U.S. Supreme Court during its October 2015 Term, Halo Electronics, Inc. v. Pulse Electronics, Inc. (regarding the award of enhanced damages in "egregious" patent infringement cases) and Cuozzo Speed Technologies , LLC v. Lee (assessing the claim construction standard applied by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board in certain patent revocation proceedings). The report will begin with a review of the general principles of patent law. It will then describe the law governing enhanced damages and patent revocation proceedings prior to these two opinions. After providing that context, the report will discuss and analyze how the Supreme Court's opinions in Halo and Cuozzo affect current patent law. One of the primary purposes for United States patent law is to provide individuals, companies, and institutions with economic incentives to engage in research and development that lead to new products or processes. By granting inventors a limited monopoly over the use of their inventions and discoveries, patent holders will be able to receive a return on investment from their creations. Without patent protection, competitors could "free ride" on the inventor's research and development efforts and easily duplicate or otherwise practice the new inventions without having incurred the costs to develop them. According to Section 101 of the Patent Act (or the Act), one who "invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or any composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefore, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title." Thus, an invention is eligible for patent protection if it falls within one of the four statutory categories of patent-eligible subject matter: processes, machines, manufactures, and compositions of matter. Whether the discovery is patentable subject matter is a threshold inquiry that "must precede the determination of whether that discovery is, in fact, new or obvious." The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) issues a patent to an inventor after its examiners approve the submitted patent application for an allegedly new invention. An application for a patent consists of two primary parts: (1) a "specification," which is a written description of the invention enabling those skilled in the art to practice the invention, and (2) one or more claims that define the scope of the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention. These claims define the scope of the patentee's rights under the patent. Before a patent may be granted, the USPTO examiners must find that the new invention (1) is patentable subject matter and (2) satisfies several substantive requirements set forth in the Act. One of the statutory requirements for patentability of an invention is "novelty." For an invention to be considered "novel," the subject matter must be different than, and not be wholly "anticipated" by, the so-called "prior art," or public domain materials such as publications and other patents. Another statutory requirement is that the subject matter of an alleged invention must be "nonobvious" at the time of its creation. A patent claim is invalid if "the differences between the subject matter sought to be patented and the prior art are such that the subject matter as a whole would have been obvious at the time the invention was made to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which said subject matter pertains." Finally, the invention must also be "useful," which means that the invention provides a "significant and presently available," "well-defined and particular benefit to the public." Once a patent is issued by the USPTO, it is presumed to be valid; however, members of the public may challenge the agency's decision to grant the patent either in litigation or in an administrative proceeding, as discussed in detail later in this report. A patent holder has the exclusive right to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, or selling their patented invention throughout the United States, or importing the invention into the United States. Whoever performs any one of these five acts during the term of the invention's patent, without the patent holder's authorization, is liable for infringement. A patent holder may file a civil action against an alleged infringer in order to enjoin him or her from further infringing acts (by securing an injunction, also referred to as injunctive relief). The Act also provides federal courts with discretion to award damages to the patent holder that are "adequate to compensate for the infringement, but in no event less than a reasonable royalty for the use made of the invention by the infringer." The usual term of patent protection is 20 years from the date the patent application is filed. At the end of that period, others may use the invention without regard to the expired patent. Because the Act expressly provides that "patents shall have the attributes of personal property," patent holders may sell their patent rights in a legal transfer called an "assignment." Alternatively, patent holders may grant others a "license" to exercise one of the five statutory patent rights. A license is not a transfer of ownership of the patent, but rather is the patent holder's permission to another entity to use the invention in a limited way, typically in exchange for periodic royalty payments during the term of the patent. A patent holder may grant to a licensee the right to practice the invention through a contract (typically known as a patent licensing agreement). The terms of the licensing agreement, however, may include conditions upon the grant of rights—for example, restricting the licensee from making the invention but allowing that party to sell it. A licensee that performs an act that exceeds the scope of the license (through a violation of the limitations and conditions of the grant of rights) or refuses to comply with the terms of the license agreement (such as by refusing to pay the required royalties) is potentially liable to the patent holder for breach of contract as well as for patent infringement. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (Federal Circuit) is a specialized tribunal established by Congress that has exclusive appellate jurisdiction in patent cases. Parties dissatisfied with the Federal Circuit's rulings may petition the U.S. Supreme Court to review the appellate court's decision. However, the Supreme Court is not required to entertain the appeal; it has discretion to decide whether to grant certiorari to review the case. The next section of the report will describe the law governing the award of enhanced damages in patent infringement cases and how the Supreme Court's June 2016 opinion in Halo Electronics, Inc. v. Pulse Electronics, Inc. may affect it. The Patent Act provides that a court "may increase the damages up to three times the amount found or assessed" The Patent Act does not specify the circumstances in which "treble" damages are appropriate, and thus, an award of enhanced damages in patent infringement cases, as well as the amount by which the damages will be increased, falls within the district court's discretion. Nonetheless, the Federal Circuit has limited enhanced damages awards to cases of "willful infringement." The appellate court has explained that willful infringement occurs when "the infringer acted in wanton disregard of the patentee's patent rights" based upon such circumstances as whether the infringer deliberately copied the ideas or design of the patentee, the closeness of the willfulness determination, the infringer's concealment of its conduct, and the infringer's motivations. The court opined that willful infringement "is not simply a conduit for enhancement of damages; it is a statement that patent infringement, like other civil wrongs, is disfavored, and intentional disregard of legal rights warrants deterrence." A 1992 Federal Circuit opinion stated that: Willfulness is a determination as to a state of mind. One who has actual notice of another's patent rights has an affirmative duty to respect those rights. That affirmative duty normally entails obtaining advice of legal counsel although the absence of such advice does not mandate a finding of willfulness. Under the willful infringement doctrine that existed since the 1980s until 2007, courts assessed whether the adjudicated infringer knew of the patent before being charged with infringement in court, or if the infringer acted with the reasonable belief that the patent was not infringed or that it was invalid. During this time period, Federal Circuit decisions emphasized the affirmative duty of someone with actual notice of a competitor's patent to exercise due care in determining if his or her acts will infringe that patent. Prior to 2004, the Federal Circuit held that when an accused infringer invoked the attorney-client or work-product privilege in refusing to answer interrogatories on whether the party had obtained the advice of legal counsel before it began allegedly infringing acts, courts were permitted to reach an adverse inference that either (1) no advice of counsel had been obtained or (2) the legal opinion had been obtained and was contrary to the infringer's desire to continue practicing the patented invention. However, in its 2004 decision Knorr-Bremse Systeme fuer Nutzfahrzeuge GmbH v. Dana Corp. , the Federal Circuit expressly rejected this principle and eliminated the adverse inference. The appellate court emphasized that a court may not draw an adverse inference with respect to willful infringement when the defendant in an infringement suit invokes the attorney-client or work-product privilege (because of the inappropriate burden it may place on the attorney-client relationship in patent cases) or when the defendant has failed to seek legal advice (because of the burdens and costs of such a requirement). Following the Knorr-Bremse opinion, willful infringement determinations are based upon "the totality of circumstances, but without the evidentiary contribution or presumptive weight of an adverse inference that any opinion of counsel was or would have been unfavorable."