- Shenzhen Tuozhu Technology Co., Ltd. v. Stratasys, Inc.All claims unpatentablePTAB · Sep 28, 2026 · IPR2025-00611 · APJ Christopher L Ogden · IPR · Final written decision
Claims 1–10, 12, 13, 19, and 20 are unpatentable under § 103 over the stated Douglas–Mark and Hamilton-based grounds.
RulingsFinal written decision- Skill levelSkill level petitioner adoptedDecided for petitioner
“The parties agree that experience could substitute for a degree, and vice versa. Pet. 3; PO Resp. 10. The parties’ proposed levels of ordinary skill are substantially similar. For this decision, as in the Institution Decision, we adopt Petitioner’s proposed level, which is supported by credible testimonial evidence and is consistent with the problems addressed in the ’774 patent. See Ex. 1001, 1:16–52. Our decision would be the same, however, if we were to adopt Patent Owner’s proposal.” slip op. at 7
- Claim Construction › Threshold & procedure › Whether a term needs construction (O2 Micro)Other
“Neither Petitioner nor Patent Owner argues that we need to construe any claim terms explicitly. See Pet. 2–3; PO Resp. 10. However, the parties contest two material claim-construction issues which we address below. To the extent that the parties’ positions depend on interpreting other claim language in a particular way, we discuss the relevant claim language below in the context of the parties’ arguments regarding the prior art.” slip op. at 8
- Claim Construction › Intrinsic evidence (Phillips canons) › Plain and ordinary meaning to a POSITATerm construed board ownDecided for petitioner
“We disagree with Patent Owner that a person of ordinary skill in the art would have understood that limitation 1.2 must be performed before limitations 1.3 or 1.4. See Ex. 1001, 35:21–24. See Interactive Gift Exp., Inc. v. Compuserve Inc., 256 F.3d 1323, 1342 (Fed. Cir. 2001) (“Unless the steps of a method actually recite an order, the steps are not ordinarily construed to require one.” (citing Loral Fairchild Corp. v. Sony Corp., 181 F.3d 1313, 1322 (Fed. Cir. 1999)). The evidence suggests that a “target printer” is any printer that is ultimately selected for fabricating the object, and such a printer could send its configuration information either before or after that determination is made in limitation 1.2. This interpretation does not render the word “target” meaningless. At some point, a printer must be determined to be the target printer, which is the one intended to ultimately fabricate the three-dimensional object. But the target printer still exists, and is capable of being queried, before that determination is made. We find the examples in the ’774 patent pertinent to this question. The ’774 patent states that “the target printer may include more than one printer.” Ex. 1001, 18:66–67. In discussing the step of “query target printer for properties 306” (Fig. 3A), the ’774 patent states that “[i]n one aspect, numerous queries are sent to numerous printers, e.g., for use in selecting one or more of the printers as the target printer.” Id. at 19:8–10. Alternatively, “the query is sent to a printer that is not necessarily the target printer as described herein, e.g., when the query or information received from a response to the query is used for the selection of the target printer.” Id. at 19:11–14. Importantly, the second embodiment states that the queried printer “is not necessarily the target printer,” suggesting that the queried printer could be the target printer even before it is determined to be such. Id. at 19:11–12 (emphasis added). Based on the evidence of record, a person of ordinary skill in the art would have understood that the “target printer” can be determined after the query recited in limitation 1.3 or the reception of configuration information recited in limitation 1.4. Thus, the evidence does not impose an ordering between limitations 1.2 and 1.3 or between limitations 1.2 and 1.4. The evidence also does not support Patent Owner’s argument that the two reverse-order examples in the ’774 patent are unclaimed embodiments.” slip op. at 10
- Obviousness (§103) › Motivation to combine / reasonable expectation of success › HindsightMotivation foundDecided for petitioner
“We disagree that Petitioner’s arguments are based on impermissible hindsight, because they are based on the disclosures in Douglas and Mark, and Petitioner has articulated a persuasive reason to combine those references without referring to the ’774 patent itself, as we discuss below. See In re McLaughlin, 443 F.2d 1392, 1395 (CCPA 1971) (an obvious rationale is not improper hindsight if it “takes into account only knowledge which was within the level of ordinary skill at the time the claimed invention was made and does not include knowledge gleaned only from applicant’s disclosure”).” slip op. at 29
Patent outcomesUS 11,886,774 unpatentableClaim construction§ 102 anticipation§ 103 obviousnesscites Phillips · KSR · GrahamPatents in suitUS 11,886,774 - Lenovo Holding Company, Inc. / Lenovo (United States) Inc. et al. v. Interdigital Technology CorporationSome claims unpatentablePTAB · Apr 14, 2022 · IPR2020-01494 · APJ Christopher L Ogden · IPR · Final written decision
Claims 1–8, 10–12, 21–24, and 26 are unpatentable as obvious over Li and Tiedemann, with or without ETSI1997; the remaining challenged claims were not shown unpatentable.
RulingsFinal written decision- Skill levelSkill level petitioner adoptedDecided for patent owner
“In its Response, InterDigital does not contest Dr. Acampora’s articulation of the level of ordinary skill, except that “InterDigital applies Petitioners’ alleged baseline level of ordinary skill without the phrase ‘at least.’” PO Resp. 3. We agree with InterDigital that the term at least arguably “creates unnecessary ambiguity.” Id. (citing Inst. Dec. 9–10). But we find that Petitioner’s articulation, after deleting the phrase at least, is reasonable in light of the subject matter involved in the ’449 patent, and we adopt it for our decision.” slip op. at 10
- Expert testimonyPetitioner expert creditedDecided for petitioner
“To the extent that text was copied and pasted in either direction between the Petition and Dr. Acampora’s declaration, we disagree that this mere fact indicates that we should give Dr. Acampora’s testimony less weight. Patent Owner does not argue that Dr. Acampora was uninvolved with the preparation of his declaration, which he signed, under penalty of perjury, and presented as reflecting his own opinions. That typographical errors may, for example, have been propagated from his declaration to the Petition is by itself of little consequence. The cited Wowza decision does not suggest otherwise. In that case, the Board assigned little weight to the expert declaration, not because of its similarity to the petition, but because the declaration did not disclose the underlying facts or data on which its opinion testimony was based. See IPR2013-00054, Paper 16 at 4–5. As Petitioner correctly argues in its Reply, InterDigital does not “identif[y] where Dr. Acampora fails to provide sufficient facts underlying his opinions.” Pet. Reply 1 n.1.” slip op. at 20
- Prior constructionPrior construction adoptedDecided for petitioner
“1. “channel quality” InterDigital states that the court in the parallel district court litigation adopted the parties’ agreed construction of “channel quality” as meaning “a value/values quantifying how efficiently downlink resources of a channel can communicate information.” PO Resp. 3–4 (citing Ex. 2008, 1; Ex. 2009, 18). InterDigital contends that the ’449 patent suggests this construction, and that both sides’ experts agree with it. Id. at 4 (citing Ex. 1001, 1:36–61; Ex. 2001 ¶¶ 33–35; Ex. 2002, 21:14–22; Ex. 2007, 26:12–17). Because the meaning of this term is uncontested, and it is consistent with the evidence of record, we adopt the parties’ agreed construction. See Nidec Motor Corp. v. Zhongshan Broad Ocean Motor Co., 868 F.3d 1013, 1017 (Fed. Cir. 2017) (“[W]e need only construe terms ‘that are in controversy, and only to the extent necessary to resolve the controversy.’” (quoting Vivid Techs., Inc. v. Am. Sci. & Eng’g, Inc., 200 F.3d 795, 803 (Fed. Cir. 1999))).” slip op. at 11
- Claim Construction › Intrinsic evidence (Phillips canons) › Plain and ordinary meaning to a POSITATerm construed petitioner constructionDecided for petitioner
“For the above reasons, we determine that Petitioner has persuasively shown that a channel quality of the plurality of downlink resources and the related term a first channel quality indication for the plurality of downlink resources mean “a channel quality value related to the ‘plurality of downlink resources’ as a whole.” Pet. 11–13. We also determine that Petitioner has persuasively shown that both alternatives 8 and 9 reflect embodiments of this term, which is consistent with the district court’s construction that provides “a mean or reference value related to the plurality” as examples of a channel quality value related to the plurality of downlink resources as a whole, explicitly referencing alternative 9 in its analysis. See Ex. 2009, 12– 13.” slip op. at 18
Patent outcomesUS 9,456,449 mixedClaim construction§ 102 anticipation§ 103 obviousnesscites Phillips · KSR · GrahamPatents in suitUS 9,456,449
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.