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Constitutionality of Inter Partes Reviews: A Look at Supreme Court Oral Arguments in Oil States

The enactment of the AIA in 2011, inter partes review (IPR), has been available as a method to challenge the validity of a patent in the US Patent and Trademark Office. A total of 6139 IPR petitions (92% of all petitions) have been filed with the Patent Trial and Appeals Board (PTAB) since that time. […]

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Netlist v. Diablo Continues

    On July 25, 2017, the Federal Circuit released a nonprecedential opinion vacating the Board’s decisions and remanding for further proceedings because of erroneous construction of certain language. The Board had previously deemed claims 15-17, 22, 24, 26 and 31-33 of U.S. Patent No. 7,881,150 and claims 1, 16, 17, 24 and 30-31 of U.S. […]

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Existing IPR Procedure Will Likely Stay the Same

The Federal Circuit yesterday, in a ten-to-one decision, rejected Ethicon’s petition for en banc rehearing on the question of whether the USPTO Director improperly delegated decision-making authority for the institution of inter partes review (IPR) to a PTAB panel. This decision confirms another existing USPTO practice, the function of PTAB panels to both institute and […]

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Supreme Court Upholds Broadest Reasonable Interpretation and No Review for Institution in PTAB Proceedings

The Supreme Court has issued its opinion in the case of In re Cuozzo Speed Technologies, LLC. In re Cuozzo initially began as an inter partes review (IPR) with the Patent Trial and Appeals Board (PTAB) where Garmin challenged the validity of Cuozzo’s patent relating to an interface that uses GPS technology to display a […]

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Federal Circuit Reverses PTAB Obviousness Decision for the Board’s Failure to Adequately Articulate an Obviousness Rationale

In Black & Decker, Inc. v. Positec USA, Inc., a non-precedential opinion, the Federal Circuit reversed the Patent and Trial Appeal Board’s (PTAB) finding of obviousness of two claims.  The appeal arose from an Inter Partes Review (IPR) of U.S. Patent No. 5,544,417 owned by Black & Decker directed to a string trimmer.  The PTAB […]

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USPTO Issues Rule Amendments for Trials Before PTAB

The United States Patent and Trademark Office issued finalized amendments to the rules for trials before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board. The updated rules were issued in a Federal Register Notice on April 1, 2016, which may be found here. The rules put into final form most of the amendments proposed on August 20, […]

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PTAB’s Interpretation of 35 USC 315(b) Continues to Stand: Dismissal Without Prejudice Effectively Nullifies the One Year Bar to Bring an IPR

The USPTO’s Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s holding that the voluntary dismissal of a lawsuit, without prejudice, effectively nullifies the service of the complaint for purposes of triggering the one year bar in 35 U.S.C. § 315(b) to petition for the institution of an inter partes review (IPR) stands in Shaw Indus. Grp. v. Automated […]

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Federal Circuit Clarifies Rules for IPR Supplemental Information Submission

The America Invents Act (AIA) created a number of new pseudo-litigation proceedings at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) of the USPTO.  While the proceedings, including inter-partes review (IPR), have been in place since September 16, 2012, the specific rules and procedures, as well as the underlying authority, continue to be resolved.  On December […]

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Patenting Ideas Previously Disclosed in an Earlier-Filed Provisional Application but Later-Filed Non-Provisional Application

Can an idea that has already been conceived (and published) still be patented? The scenario appears possible based on a recent holding from the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Many know that nearly all publicly available information with a publication date prior to the filing date of a patent application can […]

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New Changes Proposed for PTAB Trial Proceedings Rules

USPTO Director Michelle K. Lee discussed proposed rule changes in herblog post for Wednesday, August 19. The first set of rules governing inter partes review, post-grant review, and covered business method patent proceedings was issued in 2012 and a number public comment sessions were held to gather feedback on these rules. In March of 2015, […]

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