Posts Tagged: "Patent Trial and Appeal Board"

MicroSurgical Decision Reiterates PTAB’s ‘Wide Net’ Approach to Transition Applications Under the AIA

March 16, 2013 marked a watershed date in the practice of patent law as the effective date of the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (AIA). Per Section 3 of the AIA, patent applications having an effective filing date prior to the effective date of the AIA are subject to first-to-invent/ pre-AIA law, whereas applications claiming an effective filing date after the effective date of the AIA are subject to the first inventor-to-file provisions of the AIA, including post grant administrative challenges introduced as part of the AIA. Not surprisingly, there were a number of patent applications filed that bridged the March 16, 2013 AIA effective date. These so-called “transition applications” were filed after March 16, 2013 but claimed priority to an application filed before March 16, 2013. These applications would not be subject to the provisions of the AIA unless the application contained a claim that did not properly find support in the pre-AIA priority document(s). The Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) is taking aim at these transitional applications, and patents issuing therefrom, by casting a wide net with respect to eligibility under the AIA and closing apparent loopholes such that patent owners cannot reverse a finding that a patent is subject to AIA law, even if all of the claims of said patent are entitled to a pre-March 16, 2013 priority date.

PPAC Announcements: Hirshfeld Doubles Down on Director Review Authority; Commerce Department to File for Registration of USPTO Trademarks; Committee Requests Release of $64 Million in User Fees

During the Patent Public Advisory Committee (PPAC) quarterly meeting held today, participants provided an update on the Director Review process under the Supreme Court’s Arthrex v. Smith and Nephew ruling, among other announcements. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) Senior Advisor and Judge Linda Horner noted that, since the ruling, 14 timely requests for Director Review have been received; 11 of those were for a batch of related inter partes reviews (IPRs). Hirshfeld this week issued two decisions on the first two requests, denying both; the rest remain pending.

Patent Filings Roundup: Mystery NPEs File New Suits on Old IV Assets; PTAB Discretionarily Denies 14; Causam Enterprises Launches Major Campaign

In a relatively subdued week, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB or Board) saw 35 challenges and the district courts 53 new patent filings. Those challenges included a slew against Centripetal Networks and Stratosaudio patents, as well as a number of memory authentication district court campaigns launched, including one major new non-practicing entity (NPE) suit by Causam Enterprises against Ecobee, Itron, Residio, and Alarm.com for patents related to power consumption.

Federal Circuit: PTAB Failed to Provide Adequate Notice of Sua Sponte Claim Construction

In a precedential opinion authored by chief Judge Moore, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit today vacated and remanded six Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) final written decisions in inter partes review (IPR) proceedings filed by Intel that found Qualcomm’s patent claims 1–15, 17–25, and 27–33 of U.S. Patent No. 9,608,675 would have been obvious. While the CAFC agreed with the PTAB’s construction of one of the claims, which Qualcomm had challenged, it ultimately held that the Board violated Qualcomm’s procedural rights under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) for failing to provide the company “adequate notice of and opportunity to respond to its sua sponte claim construction.”

USPTO Implementation of Arthrex: Questions from Administrative Law, Part II—the Bigger Picture for Reform

In Part I, we looked at two of the legal principles that govern Arthrex Director review: Director review must be implemented by notice-and-comment “regulation,” not website, and the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) requires that the Director’s decision demonstrate “reasoned decisionmaking.” Today, we’ll look at a few more legal obligations that confine the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s (USPTO’s) discretion as the USPTO seeks a lawful implementation of Director review. This Part II concludes with a plea that the USPTO take the public interest seriously, as the public interest is reflected in various statutes outside the Patent Act.