Category: PTAB
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PTAB Relies on the Federal Circuit’s Recent § 101 Decision to Deny CBM Institution
On May 12, 2016, the Federal Circuit issued a decision on 101 patent eligibility that overturned a summary judgment finding of § 101 invalidity for software used for databases. Enfish, LLC v. Microsoft Corp., No. 2015-1244, 2016 WL 2756266 (Fed. Cir. May 12, 2016). The Enfish v. Microsoft decision interpreted the “abstract idea” first prong of…
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New PTAB Trial Practice Rules Effective May 2, 2016
On April 1, 2016 the PTO published its final rule on Amendments to the Rules of Practice for Trials Before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board. A small correction to these Amendments was published on April 27. I presented a summary of these rule changes at the AIPLA Spring Meeting in Minneapolis, MN on May 18, 2016. The…
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Patent Trends to Watch in 2016
2016 is starting off with a bang! A number of interesting new developments have occurred as we enter into this new year: The Supreme Court will review broadest reasonable interpretation (BRI), courtesy of the petition for cert in Cuozzo The Federal Circuit continues to selectively review and provide guidance on PTAB decisions, such as in Ethicon Endo-Surgery…
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Board Limits Multiple IPR Challenges in Samsung Electronics v. Rembrandt Wireless Technologies
June 22, 2015 Rembrandt Wireless Technologies sued Samsung and Research in Motion for infringement of U.S. Patent 8,457,228 in June 2013. The ‘228 patent relates to data communications, and in particular to a data communication system in which a plurality of modems use different types of modulation in a network. In June of 2014, Samsung filed six IPR…
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Federal Circuit Interprets Board’s Broadest Reasonable Interpretation Standard – Part II
In Microsoft Corp. v. ProxyConn, Inc. v. Michelle K. Lee, Intervenor (Fed. Cir. cases 2014-1542 and -1543), the Federal Circuit reversed claim constructions made by the Board in the underlying IPRs. One of the claim constructions that was reversed related to the interpretation of components of a packet-switched network. In particular, the claims recite a…
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Federal Circuit Interprets Board’s Broadest Reasonable Interpretation Standard – Part I
We know from the Federal Circuit’s decision in In re Cuozzo Speed Technologies, that the broadest reasonable interpretation (BRI) standard applies in IPRs, but in a recent appeal decision, the Federal Circuit has announced limits to the application of BRI. Microsoft had filed two separate IPR petitions challenging certain claims of U.S. Patent No. 6,757,717, which were later…
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New PTAB Rule Changes Published Yesterday
A small number of rule changes were published yesterday which affect all involved in post-grant trials at the USPTO. The fixes make the rules more specific and make for more uniform proceedings. They are effective May 19, 2015. A copy of the Federal Register notice can be found here.
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Target Wins Rehearing of IPR Joinder Decision with Expanded Panel
Last fall, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB or Board) interpreted the IPR joinder provision, 35 U.S.C. § 315(c), to require joinder requests by a non-party to an ongoing proceeding. (Target Corp. v. Destination Maternity Corp., IPR2014-00508 and IPR2014-00509.) Prior to that decision, the Board had interpreted § 315(c) to allow for issue joinder by the petitioner of the original proceeding (see, for…
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The Settlement Effect of PTAB Proceedings and Recent Patent Office Trial Statistics
December 29, 2014 The Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) released statistics for AIA Patent Office trials as of Dec. 18, 2014. Different commentators have recently reported that the institution rate for these proceedings has dropped to about 60-70 percent, depending on how you calculate it. Those familiar with PTAB trial practice (IPR, CBM, PGR and…