- PTAB · Jun 13, 2025 · IPR2025-00351 · APJ Beth Z Shaw · IPR · Institution
The Board instituted IPR of claims 1–26 on all grounds, finding a reasonable likelihood that Petitioner would prevail on at least one claim.
RulingsInstitution decision- PTAB / AIA Trials › Discretionary denial › Fintiv (parallel litigation)Decided for petitioner
“A district court stay of the litigation pending resolution of the PTAB trial allays concerns about inefficiency and duplication of efforts.” Fintiv Order 6. That is the case here. Thus, the first Fintiv factor strongly weighs against exercising the authority to deny institution. Id. Under the second Fintiv factor, the proximity of the court’s trial date to the Board’s projected statutory deadline for a final written decision weighs against exercising our authority to deny institution because there is no trial date scheduled. Id. at 9; see Ex. 1031, 3. slip op. at 8
- PTAB / AIA Trials › Institution threshold (reasonable likelihood / more likely than not)InstitutedInstituted
“To institute an inter partes review, we must determine “that there is a reasonable likelihood that the petitioner would prevail with respect to at least 1 of the claims challenged in the petition.” 35 U.S.C. § 314(a). The Board, however, has discretion to deny a petition even when a petitioner meets that threshold. Id.; see, e.g., Cuozzo Speed Techs., LLC v. Lee, 136 S. Ct. 2131, 2140 (2016) (“[T]he agency’s decision to deny a petition is a matter committed to the Patent Office’s discretion.”). For the reasons that follow, we grant institution of inter partes review.” slip op. at 2
- Skill levelOther
“have a bachelor’s or equivalent degree in computer science or a related field and at least 2 years of experience in multimedia processing or delivery using internet protocols.” Pet. 10 (citing Ex. 1002 ¶¶ 67–68). Petitioner further states that “a person with less formal education but more experience, or more formal education but less experience, could have also met the relevant standard for a POSITA.” Id. Patent Owner submits a similar definition (see Prelim. Resp. 13–14), but states that a POSITA “would understand that . . . the subject of the patent is a software-based solution to broadcasting multimedia streams, and the skillset and expertise in hardware-based systems would not make one knowledgeable about software-based systems.” Prelim. Resp. 13–14. We determine that no express finding is necessary, on the present record, and that the level of ordinary skill in the art is reflected by the prior art of record. See Okajima v. Bourdeau, 261 F.3d 1350, 1355 (Fed. Cir. 2001); In re GPAC Inc., 57 F.3d 1573, 1579 (Fed. Cir. 1995); In re Oelrich, 579 F.2d 86, 91 (CCPA 1978). The difference in how each party characterizes a POSITA’s work experience does not change our analysis or conclusions based on the present record. Should Patent Owner dispute Petitioner’s definition during trial, we encourage Patent Owner to explain how a software-focused definition would affect any obviousness analysis in our final written decision.” slip op. at 10
- Novelty / Anticipation (§102) › Anticipation standard (single reference, every element)Instituted
“Claim 1 does not limit the “caching unit” in any way. With this in mind, we preliminarily agree that Farber discloses the subject matter of limitation 1a sufficiently to meet Petitioner’s burden on institution. b.” slip op. at 14
Claim construction§ 102 anticipation§ 103 obviousnessDiscretionary denialPatents in suitUS 11,140,441 - Volkswagen Group Of America, Inc. v. Joao Control & Monitoring Systems, LLCAll claims unpatentablePTAB · Jan 23, 2017 · IPR2015-01612 · APJ Beth Z Shaw · IPR · Final written decision
Claims 68, 69, 74, 77, and 80 are unpatentable as anticipated by Spaur; claim 72 is unpatentable as obvious over Spaur.
RulingsFinal written decision- PTAB / AIA Trials › Institution threshold (reasonable likelihood / more likely than not)InstitutedInstituted
“Monitoring Systems, LLC, filed a Preliminary Response pursuant to 35 U.S.C. § 313. Paper 6 (“Prelim. Resp.”). Based on our review of these submissions, we declined to institute review of claims 21, 24, 27, 29, 30, 31, and 33, and we instituted inter partes review of claims 68, 69, 72, 74, 77, and 80. Paper 7 (“Dec.”). Specifically, we authorized this inter partes review to proceed as to the following grounds: (1) claims 68, 69, 74, 77, and 80 under 35 U.S.C. § 102(e) as anticipated by Spaur1; and (2) claim 72 under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as obvious over Spaur.” slip op. at 2
- Claim Construction › Threshold & procedure › Whether a term needs construction (O2 Micro)Term construed patent owner constructionDecided for patent owner
“processing device” Patent Owner argues that “processing device” means “a device or a computer, or that part of a device or a computer, which performs an operation, an action, or a function, or which performs a number of operations, actions, or functions.” PO Resp. 8. Patent Owner argues that this definition comes from the prosecution history of the ’363 patent (Ex. 1007) and is consistent with the Specification. Id. Petitioner does not dispute this construction. See Reply 2–4. We agree that this explicit definition for “processing device” was provided in the prosecution of the application that issued as the ’363 patent. See Ex. 1007. We have reviewed the definition and we find it to be instructive to understanding the proper scope of “processing device.” See In re Paulsen, 30 F.3d 1475, 1480 (Fed. Cir. 1994). Thus, we adopt the Patent Owner’s construction of “processing device” to mean “a device or a computer, or that part of a device or a computer, which performs an operation, an action, or a function, or which performs a number of operations, actions, or functions” for the purposes of this decision. slip op. at 6
- Novelty / Anticipation (§102) › Anticipation standard (single reference, every element)UnpatentableUnpatentable
“We agree with Petitioner’s characterization of Spaur’s teachings and we are not persuaded by Patent Owner’s argument. Patent Owner does not direct us to any persuasive evidence that the “second processing device” of claim 68 is not encompassed by Spaur’s teaching of a CDPD network modem. Pursuant to our construction discussed above, the term “processing device” means “a device or a computer, or that part of a device or a computer, which performs an operation, an action, or a function, or which performs a number of operations, actions, or functions.” See § II.A. This is the definition Patent Owner proposed and that Patent Owner provided during prosecution. We are unpersuaded as to why Spaur’s CDPD network modem 76 is necessarily different from “a device or a computer, or that part of a device or a computer, which performs an operation, an action, or a function, or which performs a number of operations, actions, or functions.”” slip op. at 8
- Obviousness (§103) › Motivation to combine / reasonable expectation of successMotivation foundDecided for petitioner
“not address the arguments in the Petition about the obviousness of claim 72. Reply 13. In particular, the Petition stated that: (1) Spaur describes a “wireless device” contained in the vehicle for transmitting and receiving information over an air link (Ex. 1004, 6:3–5), (2) Spaur describes that such devices may be among vehicle devices 50 (id. at 10:1–9), and (3) using a wireless device, a cellular telephone, or a personal digital assistant as the communication device in the system described by Spaur would have been within the understanding of a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time the alleged invention of claim 72 was made, and it would have been obvious to do so because it would allow the user to operate the system from a mobile device. Pet. 59–60 (citing Ex. 1006 ¶ 40). We agree with Petitioner that Patent Owner does not dispute the first two statements. Rather, we interpret Patent Owner’s arguments as directed to the third statement. Petitioner argues that Mr. Andrews testified in his declaration that wireless devices, cellular telephones, and personal digital assistants were well-known as of the filing of the ’363 patent, and that the use of a mobile device in Spaur’s system would have been obvious. Id. (citing Ex. 1006 ¶ 40). During his cross examination, Mr. Andrews testified that people “could certainly contact using a cellular telephone contact, an Internet gateway, and obtain information from devices on the Internet via an Internet gateway.” Ex. 2004, 45:16–19. Thus, Petitioner argues, Patent Owner has no basis for its statement that Mr. Andrews could not support this position during cross-examination. We agree with Petitioner and are not persuaded that Mr. Andrews’s testimony is unsupported based on his statements during cross examination.” slip op. at 14
Patent outcomesUS 7,397,363 unpatentableClaim construction§ 102 anticipation§ 103 obviousnesscites PhillipsPatents in suitUS 7,397,363
Holdings, summaries, rulings, issues, outcomes, winners and claim constructions shown for a decision were generated by a large language model reading the opinion. They are a guide to the decision, not the decision. Confirm every one against the court's own text before relying on it. Outcomes read from the patent owner’s side. Party names are extracted from the decision and are missing on about 900 short Director denials and scans, which carry the trial number instead.