Patent Filings Roundup: Fintiv Files Against Paypal; PPC Broadband Patents Challenged Based on Successful Reexams; Last CBM Decision Issues

It was a rather light week at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) with just 17 new petitions (the lowest in recent memory), with district court patent filings at 69—a few more than usual—and 60 more terminations. Samsung lost a series of five chip inter partes reviews (IPRs) at institution against an LED Wafer Solutions LLC (apparently associated with Oso IP) on the merits (they and Seoul Semiconductor were the only two plaintiffs yet sued); PPC Broadband got some IPRs from Amphenol based in large part on family members having been cancelled earlier in reexam on the same grounds; Raymond Anthony Joao entity Beteiro LLC filed a few further cases; Caselas, another of his entities, has now sued upwards of 40 banks on five patents of similar progeny; and there were lots of file-and-settle terminations in the district court, per usual. And what I believe is the final covered business method review (CBM) to be filed and pending has concluded with the claims being cancelled. The claims there were directed to currency trading systems.

New Lawsuit Brought by Fintiv, Inc.; No Trial Yet in Original Case: Fintiv Inc., the company who originally benefitted from the USPTO’s new discretionary powers in the now-famous precedential decision, has moved on from just suing Apple—in a trial that has been delayed and transferred well beyond when the original challenges would have been complete, and just in March reached claim construction before Judge Albright—has now moved on to sue PayPal. The suit is based on five patents. The earlier suit against Apple had been filed in the Northern District of Texas but transferred to the Western District in Waco before Judge Albright, who just issued the claim construction order there after almost three years of delay. At this point, the original Apple v. Fintiv IPRs would have been decided and likely the appeal would have concluded well in advance of the yet-to-materialize trial.

PPC Broadband Gets Challenges Based on Successful Reexams of Family Members: Some may recall the PPC Broadband/Corning Optical cable fight from a few years ago (disclosure: I was involved tangentially in some of these matters in private practice). It included litigation and a surprising number of reexams and challenges related to a very large portfolio on physical cable connectors. Competitor Amphenol has now filed IPRs on patents based in part on successful reexam challenges to earlier patents in the family.

PTAB

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