Talking PTAB with Bob Steinberg
Indefiniteness Before the PTAB
In Microsurgical Tech., Inc. v. Regents of the Univ. of Colorado, No. PGR2021-00026, Paper 12 (P.T.A.B. June 16, 2021), the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (“PTAB”) held that disclaimed claims should be considered for...more
The Federal Circuit had a busy week, issuing 18 opinions—8 of them precedential. One of those cases put a new spin on two PTAB-related issues we’ve covered extensively on this blog: Arthrex (which held PTAB judges were...more
A PTAB panel found FedEx sufficiently akin to Priority Mail Express to meet the petition service rule, and to the extent necessary further waived the regulatory requirements related to the timing of Petitioner’s (TIZ Inc....more
In cxLoyalty Inc. v. Maritz Holdings Inc., 986 F.3d 1367, 1380 (Fed. Cir. 2021), Patent No. 7,134,087 explained that loyalty programs often issue points to customers as a reward for certain activities and allow the customers...more
These charts and graphs appear in the firm's Federal Circuit Appeals from the PTAB and ITC: Summaries of Key 2020 Decisions report... Appeals from the USPTO dipped in FY20, reaching their lowest level since FY15. After four...more
Total PTAB petitions remained flat in FY2020, with 1513 petitions total being filed: IPR (1429), PGR (64), and CBM (20), compared to 1464 in FY2019 and 1613 FY2018, down from 1901 in FY2017. September IPR petition filings...more
The institution rate for post-grant challenges in current FY 2020 (Oct. 1, 2019 through June 30, 2020) stands at 56% (478 instituted, 376 denied) compared to 63% in the previous fiscal year. This lower institution rate...more
Covered Business Method (“CBM”) review ends in mid-September, and you have one last chance to take advantage. In 2011, the AIA introduced three new administrative review proceedings of patentability with the goal of...more
The institution rate for post-grant challenges in current FY 2020 (Oct. 1, 2019 through April 30, 2020) stands at 55% (370 instituted, 300 denied) compared to 63% in the previous fiscal year. This lower institution rate...more
Under the America Invents Act, the USPTO is to stop accepting petitions for review of covered business method patents after September 16, 2020. Given the various other priorities Congress will be dealing with between now and...more
The institution rate for post-grant challenges in current FY 2020 (Oct. 1, 2019 through January 31, 2020) stands at 56% compared to 63% in the previous fiscal year. While a relatively small sample size (204 instituted, 161...more
The institution rate for post-grant challenges in current FY 2020 (Oct. 1, 2019 through December 31, 2019) stands at 55% compared to 63% in the previous fiscal year. While a small sample size (138 instituted, 113 denied),...more
The institution rate for post-grant challenges in current FY 2020 (Oct. 1, 2019 through November 31, 2019) stands at 50% compared to 63% in the previous fiscal year. While a small sample size (88 instituted, 88 denied), this...more
Following guidance from the Federal Circuit, the PTAB has vacated a previous Board decision granting Covered Business Method review in Apple, Inc. v. Universal Secure Registry LLC (P.T.A.B. Dec. 3, 2018). The PTAB’s...more
In an opinion regarding a covered business method (CBM) review at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB), the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit adopted a new claim construction and found the PTAB’s decision on CBM...more
State Sovereignty Principles Do Not Allow a State to Bring a Patent Infringement Suit in an Improper Venue - In Board of Regents v. Boston Scientific Corp., Appeal No. 2018-1700, the Federal Circuit ruled that the patent...more
The Patent Trial and Appeal Board (“PTAB”) recently issued a Final Written Decision in favor of Comcast Cable Communications, LLC (“Comcast”) and against Promptu Systems Corporation (“Promptu”) in a covered business method...more
The Federal Circuit vacated a PTAB decision invalidating all challenged claims of U.S. Patent No. 8,908,842 (’842 Patent) and ordered the PTAB to reconsider whether the patent should have been disqualified from covered...more
PATENT CASE OF THE WEEK - SIPCO, LLC v. Emerson Electric Co., Appeal No. 2018-1635 (Fed. Cir. Sept. 25, 2019) - In this appeal of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s (PTAB) final written decision regarding covered...more
SIPCO, LLC v. EMERSON ELECTRIC CO. Before O’Malley, Reyna, and Chen. Appeal from the Patent Trial and Appeal Board. Reyna concurring-in-part and dissenting-in-part Summary: The language “unobvious over the prior art” in...more
Is the little-used CBM patent review program the key to passage of § 101 legislation? Congress is currently considering legislation to drastically alter the patent eligibility statute, 35 U.S.C. § 101. The unabashed...more
A weekly summary of the precedential patent-related opinions issued by the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and the opinions designated precedential or informative by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board....more
On Thursday, the Federal Circuit issued a precedential decision in Trading Technologies International, Inc. v. IBG Interactive Brokers, LLC, No. 17-2257 (Fed. Cir. Apr. 18, 2019), that provides another data point on how CBM...more
PATENT CASE OF THE WEEK - E.I. Du Pont De Nemours & Co. v. Unifrax I LLC, Appeal No. 2017-2575 (Fed. Cir. Apr. 17, 2019) - Our featured case of the week revolved primarily on the construction of a single claim term in...more
In a nonprecedential per curiam decision, the Federal Circuit vacated the PTAB’s final written decisions in five covered business method (“CBM”) reviews on four related e-trading patents as “arbitrary and capricious” because...more