In several recent decisions, the PTAB has clarified the standing required to file petitions seeking Covered Business Method review. Under the AIA, standing to seek Covered Business Method review is limited to those charged with infringement and their “privies.” “Privies,” however, do not encompass merely any party with whom the petitioner is in “privity.” “Privies” is effectively synonymous with “customers”– and, not merely any customers, but customers who the petitioner is legally obligated to indemnify for their alleged infringement.
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Digital Rights Patent Declared Patent Eligible Under DDR Holdings
Prior t
o the Federal Circuit’s opinion in DDR Holdings, LLC v. Hotels.com, L.P., 773 F.3d 1245 (Fed. Cir. 2014), software and Internet patents seemed on a relentless march towards ineligibility. The Federal Circuit’s decision in DDR Holdings tapped the brakes on this skid towards elimination, and suggested that claims to the implementation of long established economic practices on computers might survive where those claims focused on overcoming obstacles in the implementing technologies themselves.
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Apple Argues to Federal Circuit a Stay of Litigation in Favor of CBM
In appealing the denial of its request that further litigation in the Eastern District of Texas be stayed in favor of recently instituted CBM review, Apple has urged the Federal Circuit to ignore the fact that trial had already occurred, and a jury verdict rendered, in the Texas action. In its appeal brief, Apple argues that it was unfairly denied a stay that was granted to other parties facing litigation on the same patents who have yet to proceed to trial.
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PTAB Cancels Metasearch Patents Under Section 101, Rejecting Arguments
On May 22, 2015, the PTAB issued its final written decision in American Express Co. v. Lunenfeld, CBM2014-00050 (Paper 51), canceling six claims of U.S. Patent No. 8,239,451 directed to online metasearching. The PTAB decided that all six claims are unpatentable under 35 USC § 101, and obvious under 35 USC § 103. The PTAB characterized the ‘452 Patent as directed to the abstract idea of searching for travel information from multiple sources and ordering travel items from the combined search results.
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