Appeals

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In TriVascular, Inc. v. Samuels, Appeal No. 2015-1631 (Fed. Cir. Feb. 5, 2016), a unanimous Federal Circuit panel affirmed a PTAB final written decision that concluded the petitioner (TriVascular) did not meet its burden of demonstrating the challenged claims were unpatentable during inter partes review. TriVascular successfully petitioned the Board to institute the review after the patent owner (Samuels) accused TriVascular of infringing the same patent in a California federal court. TriVascular’s short-lived success, however, was tempered by the Board’s claim construction in the institution decision that differed from the construction TriVascular sought in its petition.
Continue Reading The Board’s Prerogative to Change its Mind May Doom Petition after Institution

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In Redline Detection, LLC v Star Envirotech, Inc., the Federal Circuit affirmed a PTAB final written decision that the petitioner failed to show that the challenged claims were obvious, and upholding the PTAB’s decision denying the petitioner’s motion to submit an expert declaration as supplemental evidence, after the PTAB instituted the IPR.
Continue Reading Petitioner Blows Smoke with Late-Filed Declaration

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As we’ve previously reported, patent owners have had little success arguing secondary considerations of non-obviousness during inter partes review. Underscoring the challenge that patent owners face, the Federal Circuit recently affirmed a PTAB obviousness determination despite finding that it had erred in its consideration of the patent owner’s evidence regarding objective indicia of non-obviousness.
Continue Reading Secondary Considerations Error Does Not Warrant Reversal

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In Merck & CIE v. Gnosis S.P.A., Gnosis Bioresearch S.A., Gnosis U.S.A. Inc., Case No. 2014-1779 (Fed. Cir. Dec. 17, 2015), the Federal Circuit affirmed the Board’s decision that the contested claims were invalid for obviousness, determining that the Board’s factual findings were supported by substantial evidence, and agreeing with the Board’s conclusion of obviousness.  However, in dissent, Judge Newman asserted that the Federal Circuit’s substantial evidence standard of review for the Board’s factual findings in AIA trial decisions is not appropriate under the AIA, and that based on a review without deference, the Board’s decision in this case should be reversed.
Continue Reading Dissent: “Deferential review by the Federal Circuit falls short”

Getting LuckyIn SightSound Techs., LLC v. Apple Inc., Appeal Nos. 2015-1159, -1160 (Fed. Cir. Dec. 15, 2015), the Federal Circuit affirmed the PTAB’s final written decisions in two CBM patent review proceedings that canceled claims in SightSound’s patents as being obvious over prior art (referred to as the CompuSonics publications), even though Apple did not present that specific challenge in its petitions. The Federal Circuit’s decision is important because it shows that the court will not review a PTAB decision to institute an AIA trial on a ground the petitioner did not present.
Continue Reading Federal Circuit Affirms PTAB’s Victory on Invalidity Ground the Petition Did Not Even Present

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The ability to appeal the determination on institution of an IPR is expressly limited by statute. 35 U.S.C. § 314(d) states: “The determination by the Director whether to institute an inter partes review under this section shall be final and nonappealable.” An identically-phrased limitation is also applicable to PGR institution decisions at 35 U.S.C. § 324(e), and by extension, to CBMR institution decisions. On its face, this part of the post-grant proceedings schema seems clear and simple: PTAB institution decisions are not to be appealable.
Continue Reading Institution Decisions are Nonappealable. Settled? Maybe Not Yet.

In the first full reversal of a PTAB IPR decision, the Federal Circuit reversed the PTAB’s ruling in Straight Path IP Group, Inc. v. Sipnet EU S.R.O, on the basis that the PTAB incorrectly construed the claim term “is,” in claims directed to a computer program for online communications. 
Continue Reading Federal Circuit Reverses PTAB Decision Based on Incorrect Construction of “Is”

In a decision last week, the Federal Circuit remanded for further consideration the Board’s final written decision concluding that the challenged claims of Verinata Health, Inc.’s U.S. Patent No. 8,318,430 were not obvious. See Ariosa Diagnostics v. Verinata Health,Inc., Case No. 2015-1215, 2015-1226 (Fed. Cir. Nov. 16, 2015). The Board’s conclusion was based, in part, on its decision to accord no weight to an aspect of declaration testimony the Petitioner (Ariosa) offered in support of its reply brief.
Continue Reading Federal Circuit Weighs in on Use of Evidence Cited in a Reply

Tug of WarIf you’re a patent owner faced with an expert declaration submitted by an IPR petitioner on reply, try to respond, and in multiple ways. Don’t just complain that the declaration should be excluded. This was the Federal Circuit’s recent message in Belden Inc. v. Berk-Tek LLC. 
Continue Reading Federal Circuit Tells Patent Owners That They Can’t Get It If They Don’t Ask For It

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In August of 2012, the Federal Register published the Patent Office’s estimate of the number of AIA trial petitions the Office then expected to receive in each of the three succeeding fiscal years (each such year ends September 30). In October of 2015, the Patent Office published a report of the number of trial petitions it actually received during these fiscal years. The table below presents this same information:
Continue Reading A 200% Increase in Appeals of Patent Office Decisions to the Federal Circuit

Resources & Info

Arthrex and the Supreme Court Resource Center

In United States v. Arthrex, Inc., the Supreme Court has heard whether 125+ PTAB decisions rendered through October 2019 must be remanded for new decisions. Read about how that issue developed through our post.

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Our Team

PTABWatch, provided by Marshall, Gerstein & Borun LLP, analyzes and reports recent developments concerning Post-Grant Proceedings at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), including Inter Partes Review (IPR), Post Grant Review (PGR), and Covered Business Method (CBM) proceedings.