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  • PTAB · May 3, 2017 · IPR2017-00186 · APJ Lynne E Pettigrew · IPR · Institution

    The Board denied institution because the Petition did not show a reasonable likelihood of proving claims 14, 15, 23, 27, or 30 unpatentable on any asserted ground.

    RulingsInstitution decision
    • PTAB / AIA Trials › Real party in interest / privityRpi dispute resolved for petitionerDecided for petitioner

      “We are not persuaded by Patent Owner’s argument. We generally accept a petitioner’s identification of real parties in interest at the time of filing the petition. Petitioner represents that IBM has not funded, directed, or otherwise controlled the preparation of the Petition in this proceeding. Pet. 4. Patent Owner introduces no evidence that reasonably brings into question Petitioner’s identification of real parties in interest. Moreover, Patent Owner has not shown persuasively that the indemnification clause at issue, which gives IBM an “opportunity as is afforded by applicable laws, rules, or regulations to participate in its defense,” gives IBM an opportunity to direct or control this proceeding.8 On this record, we are not persuaded that IBM is a real party in interest.” slip op. at 9

    • Novelty / Anticipation (§102) › Prior-art status of a reference › Printed publication / public accessibilityPrinted publication not establishedDecided for patent owner

      “Linköping University in Norrköping, Sweden, and is alleged to have been made available over the Internet. Thus, to determine a date on which Gundlegård was publicly accessible, we look to evidence of the library’s cataloging and indexing practices and any search capability of the library’s website. See Blue Calypso, 815 F.3d at 1348; Voter Verified, 698 F.3d at 1380; SRI, 511 F.3d at 1196.” slip op. at 12

    • Claim Construction › Threshold & procedure › Whether a term needs construction (O2 Micro)No construction neededNot reached

      “The parties propose competing constructions of “broadcast.” Pet. 10– 11; Prelim. Resp. 14–19. Patent Owner also proposes a construction for “validating,” recited in claim 14. Prelim. Resp. 19–21. Nevertheless, we need not construe these or any other terms for the purposes of this Decision to resolve the parties’ dispute. See Vivid Technologies, Inc. v. Am. Sci. & Eng’g, Inc., 200 F.3d 795, 803 (Fed. Cir. 1999) (“[O]nly those terms need be construed that are in controversy, and only to the extent necessary to resolve the controversy.”).” slip op. at 15

    • Skill levelSkill level petitioner adoptedDecided for petitioner

      “1. Level of Ordinary Skill in the Art Petitioner, relying on the testimony of its declarant, Mr. Randall A. Snyder, contends that a person of ordinary skill in the art would have had a bachelor’s degree in computer science, engineering, physics, mathematics, or other technical field, along with three to five years of practical cellular network and protocol design and software development experience. Pet. 9 (citing Ex. 1011 ¶ 28). Patent Owner does not propose a level of skill or contest Petitioner’s statement. Petitioner’s proposal is consistent with the level of ordinary skill 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). For purposes of this Decision, we adopt Petitioner’s statement of the level of ordinary skill in the art.” slip op. at 16

    Claim construction§ 102 anticipation§ 103 obviousnesscites Graham
    Patents in suitUS 8,103,719
  • PTAB · Apr 27, 2017 · IPR2016-01777 · APJ Minn Chung · IPR · Rehearing

    The Board denied Apple’s rehearing request, leaving in place the denial of institution because the Petition did not analyze the determining a press limitation as an integral whole.

    RulingsRehearing decision
    • RehearingRehearing, deniedDenied

      “II. STANDARD OF REVIEW “The burden of showing a decision should be modified lies with the party challenging the decision,” and the challenging party “must specifically identify all matters the party believes the Board misapprehended or overlooked, and the place where each matter was previously addressed” in a paper of record. 37 C.F.R. § 42.71(d). Because Petitioner seeks rehearing of our Decision denying the Petition, it must show an abuse of discretion. See 37 C.F.R. § 42.71(c) (“When rehearing a decision on petition, a panel will review the decision for an abuse of discretion.”). An abuse of discretion occurs when a “decision was based on an erroneous conclusion of law or clearly erroneous factual findings, or . . . a clear error of judgment.” PPG Indus., Inc. v. Celanese Polymer Specialties Co., 840 F.2d 1565, 1567 (Fed. Cir. 1988).” slip op. at 2

    • PTAB / AIA Trials › Institution threshold (reasonable likelihood / more likely than not)Institution denied meritsInstitution denied

      “construe the “determining a press limitation” or interpreted the limitation to require the first two conditions recited in the limitation be maintained for the duration of a first interval. See Dec. 7–8. Rather, we found that, as illustrated in Figure 3 of the ’507 patent, “the meaning of the ‘first interval has elapsed’ condition as an integral part of the ‘determining a press limitation’ may be very different from its meaning in isolation.” Id. at 14–15 (emphasis added). We determined, based on the plain language of the claim limitation and the disclosure in the Specification, that the “determining a press limitation” recites a single concept of determining a press when all three conditions recited in the limitation are satisfied. Id. at 11–12. We found, therefore, a proper obviousness analysis must address the “determining a press limitation” as an integral whole, including the meaning of the “first interval has elapsed” condition as a part of the “determining a press limitation,” and show how a reference or a combination of references teaches or renders the limitation as a whole obvious. Id. at 12, 14–15 (citing KSR Int’l Co. v. Teleflex Inc., 550 U.S. 398, 406 (2007)). We found that the Petition did not present such an analysis. Id. at 12, 15.” slip op. at 3

    • Strike new argumentNew argument disregardedDecided for patent owner

      “an analysis. Instead, Petitioner argues that, because the claims use the openended transitional phrase “comprising,” the broadest reasonable interpretation of the “determining a press limitation” “requires only that there be at least one scenario in which the satisfaction of [the three recited conditions] . . . results in a determination of a press.” Req. Reh’g 8–10. Petitioner, however, does not identify where in the Petition this argument was presented. Petitioner’s argument appears to be a new argument presented for the first time in its Request for Rehearing to address the deficiencies in the Petition that were identified in our Decision. It was Petitioner’s affirmative duty to explain how the challenged claims should be construed and how, as so construed, they are unpatentable. See 37 C.F.R. § 42.104(b)(3)–(4). Hence, had Petitioner intended to argue, based on the open-ended transitional phrase “comprising” used in the claims, an interpretation of the “determining a press limitation” that differs from the meaning indicated by the plain language of the claim limitation or the disclosure in the Specification, such an analysis should have been made explicit in the Petition. A rehearing request is not a supplemental petition. Nor is it an opportunity to present new arguments or evidence that could have been presented and developed in the first instance in the Petition. Simply put, we could not have misapprehended or overlooked arguments or evidence that were not presented or developed in the Petition.” slip op. at 4

    • ExcludeNot reached

      “In support of its claim construction argument, Petitioner submits an Administrative Law Judge’s order on claim construction from the related U.S. International Trade Commission proceeding, which was not evidence of record at the time of our Decision. Req. Reh’g 7 (citing Ex. 1010, 59). In general, new evidence is not allowed in a Request for Rehearing, absent showing of good cause. See Office Patent Trial Practice Guide, 77 Fed. Reg. 48,756, 48,768 (Aug. 14, 2012). Petitioner does not explain why there is good cause to admit Exhibit 1010 with its Request for Rehearing. Nonetheless, even when we consider Exhibit 1010, it would not change the outcome of the Petitioner’s Request for Rehearing because we could not have misapprehended or overlooked evidence that was not presented or developed in the Petition.” slip op. at 5

    § 103 obviousnesscites KSR
    Patents in suitUS 8,749,507
  • PTAB · Feb 15, 2017 · IPR2015-01872 · APJ David C Mckone · IPR · Final written decision

    Claims 1–4, 7, 11–14, 17, and 20–25 were not shown unpatentable because Lu did not teach providing resources to queued users of packet data.

    RulingsFinal written decision
    • Claim Construction › Functional claiming / §112(f) means-plus-function › Whether §112(f) applies (Williamson, nonce words)§112(f) appliesDecided for petitioner

      “1. Means-plus-function Terms Claims 11–14 and 17 recite several terms in means-plus-function format. Claim 24 recites several terms in the form of “logic for” performing the functions of parallel terms recited in claim 11. In the Institution Decision, we adopted Petitioner’s proposed constructions, set forth at pages 10–15 of the Petition, as our constructions for the means-plus-function terms of claims 11–14 and 17. Dec. 17–18. We also determined to treat the “logic for” terms of claim 24 as means-plus-function terms, see Williamson v. Citrix Online, LLC, 792 F.3d 1339, 1349 (Fed. Cir. 2015), and adopted Petitioner’s statement of the structure corresponding to the “logic for” terms (Pet. 10–13). Id. at 18. Patent Owner does not dispute these constructions. PO Resp. 8. On the complete record, we maintain these constructions.” slip op. at 8

    • Claim Construction › Intrinsic evidence (Phillips canons) › Plain and ordinary meaning to a POSITATerm construed patent owner constructionDecided for patent owner

      “Read in light of the Specification, “providing said communication resource to queued packet data users on a tier-by-tier basis,” as recited in claim 1, means providing the communication resource to queued users of packet data on a tier-by-tier basis. We are persuaded by Patent Owner that this is the only reasonable reading that is consistent with the Specification. Petitioner provides no examples in the Specification consistent with its reading. Although the preamble of claim 1 recites a “method of processing queued data packets,” this is consistent with the Specification’s general statement that the invention pertains to “an improved packet data queueing algorithm,” Ex. 1001, 9:3. We do not read this general statement in the preamble of claim 1 (or the similar preamble recitations in claims 11 and 24) to provide a basis for construing more specific language in the body of the claim in a manner inconsistent with the description in the Specification. In sum, the only reasonable reading of “queued packet data users,” in the context of the dependent claims, and in light of consistent description in the Specification, is queued users of packet data, not users of queued packet data.” slip op. at 14

    • Obviousness (§103) › Motivation to combine / reasonable expectation of successNot reached

      “such as initial class queues 416–438, organized into high, medium, and low classes, are “a plurality of individual packet data queues.” Pet. 19–20. As to claim element 1[b], “determining a total number of data packets that can use an available communication resource,” Petitioner points to Lu’s description of using a weight-based scheduling scheme to transfer packets from one level queue to another. Id. at 23–24. Petitioner identifies the transmission capacity of the output link (e.g., 209) as the “available communication resource,” and contends that such weighted transfer during a cycle includes determining a total number of data packets that can be transferred for a cycle.5 Id. at 24. Petitioner further contends that Lu’s description of using subscriber weights based on subscriber volumes for particular classes teaches “allocating different weights to each tier of service based on a number of users requiring access to the available communication resource,” as recited in claim element 1[c]. Id. at 28–30. Regarding claim element 1[d], Petitioner argues that “[b]ecause the weights of Lu vary with the 4 We refer the claim elements 1[a]–1[e] as identified in Section I.E, above. 5 Patent Owner contends that Lu does not teach claim element 1[b]. PO Resp. 12–23. Because we decide that Petitioner has not shown that Lu teaches claim element 1[e], as detailed below, we do not decide whether Petitioner has shown that Lu teaches claim element 1[b]. available capacity (which in turn would affect the ‘total number of data packets that can use an available communication resource’), the weights of Lu consistently indicate how much (i.e., ‘proportion’) of the capacity (‘total number of data packets’) each class (i.e., ‘tier of service’) will receive.” Id. at 32.” slip op. at 22

    • Strike new argumentNew argument disregardedDecided for patent owner

      “Petitioner’s Reply argument is not simply rebuttal to the Patent Owner Response. Rather, it is an attempt to formulate a new prima facie case of obviousness. The Office has instructed that such improper Reply argument will not be considered: A reply may only respond to arguments raised in the corresponding opposition. [37 C.F.R.] § 42.23. While replies can help crystalize issues for decision, a reply that raises a new issue or belatedly presents evidence will not be considered and may be returned. . . . Examples of indications that a new issue has been raised in a reply include new evidence necessary to make out a prima facie case for the patentability or 6 In the Institution Decision, we considered Petitioner’s argument and evidence (including Mr. Lanning’s testimony, Ex. 1006 ¶¶ 96–97) and determined that Petitioner did not present evidence sufficient to show a reason to modify Lu and, accordingly, declined to institute as to claims 5 and 15. Dec. 26–27. unpatentability of an original or proposed substitute claim, and new evidence that could have been presented in a prior filing. Office Patent Trial Practice Guide, 77 Fed. Reg. 48,756, 48,767 (Aug. 14, 2012); see also Intelligent Bio-Sys., Inc. v. Illumina Cambridge Ltd., 821 F.3d 1359, 1370 (Fed. Cir. 2016) (The “Board did not err in refusing the reply brief as improper under 37 C.F.R. § 42.23(b) because IBS relied on an entirely new rationale.”). Accordingly, we do not consider Petitioner’s Reply argument for claim element 1[e]. For the same reasons, we do not consider the argument Petitioner made for the first time at the oral argument (Tr. 22:17–23:2). Office Patent Trial Practice Guide, 77 Fed. Reg. at 48,768 (“A party may rely upon evidence that has been previously submitted in the proceeding and may only present arguments relied upon in the papers previously submitted. No new evidence or arguments may be presented at the oral argument.”); see also Dell Inc. v. Acceleron, LLC, 818 F.3d 1293, 1301 (Fed. Cir. 2016) (“In this case, the Board denied Acceleron its procedural rights by relying in its decision on a factual assertion introduced into the proceeding only at oral argument, after Acceleron could meaningfully respond.”).” slip op. at 25

    Patent outcomesUS 7,385,994 not shown unpatentable
    Claim construction§ 103 obviousnesscites Phillips · KSR · Graham
    Patents in suitUS 7,385,994
  • PTAB · Feb 13, 2017 · IPR2015-01674 · APJ Barbara A Benoit · IPR · Final written decision

    Claims 1–11 and 15 are unpatentable over Palatsi and Moore; claim 12 is unpatentable over Palatsi, Moore, and Tiilikainen under § 103.

    RulingsFinal written decision
    • Skill levelSkill level patent owner adoptedDecided for patent owner

      “In reaching this conclusion, Mr. Ward indicates he “considered the ’931 patent, the types of problems encountered in the art of handheld radio telephone devices and handheld devices, the prior art solutions to those problems, and the educational level of workers active in the field.” Id. In contrast, Dr. Wolfe does not explain the basis for his opinion. 1205 ¶ 58. We determine that the level of ordinary skill proposed by Mr. Ward is consistent with the challenged patent and the asserted prior art, and we therefore adopt this definition of the level of ordinary skill in the art for the purposes of the analysis below. Our analysis would not differ, however, if we adopted Dr. Wolfe’s definition.” slip op. at 13

    • Claim Construction › Threshold & procedure › Whether a term needs construction (O2 Micro)No construction neededNot reached

      “We determine that no term in the challenged claims requires express construction for this Final Written Decision. See, e.g., Wellman, Inc. v. Eastman Chem. Co., 642 F.3d 1355, 1361 (Fed. Cir. 2011) (“[C]laim terms need only be construed ‘to the extent necessary to resolve the 14 controversy.’” (quoting Vivid Techs., Inc. v. Am. Sci. & Eng’g, Inc., 200 F.3d 795, 803 (Fed. Cir. 1999))).” slip op. at 14

    • Obviousness (§103) › Motivation to combine / reasonable expectation of successMotivation foundUnpatentable

      “Pet. Reply 14 (quoting Ex. 1012, Abstract); Ex. 1012, Abstract (“By selecting an appropriate programming mode the touch strips can be made to present a series of programmable or soft keys.”). We agree with Petitioner that these express teachings of Palatsi and Moore would have been a reason to prompt one of ordinary skill in the art to replace Palatsi’s soft keys with Moore’s touch strips. Furthermore, we agree with Petitioner that, because both Palatsi and Moore address improving user input methods for a user interface, one of ordinary skill in the art would have looked to Moore’s touch strips as an alternative input method for improving Palatsi’s push-key user interface. Pet. 18 (citing Ex. 1205 ¶ 141). As Petitioner correctly indicates (Pet. 19), Palatsi identifies a need for portable, hand-held telephones to be smaller, which requires the size of the keypad on the device to be smaller. Ex. 1087, 1:21–29 (describing “a need for portable telephones (especially hand-held portable telephones) to be smaller, to make them more convenient to carry,” while still maintaining ease of use by not making the input keys too small). Moore describes the conventional use of soft keys to limit keyboard size (Ex. 1012, 1:6–12) and, as Petitioner notes, Moore presents an invention of a position-sensitive touch strip that can be used for menu selection, scrolling, and cursor generation/control with a display terminal. Pet. 16 (citing Ex. 1012, Abstract, 1:27–35, 3:18–25, 3:54–4:28, Fig. 1; Ex. 1205 ¶ 137). These arguments, supported by citations to the references and reasoned testimony by Dr. Wolfe, weigh toward a determination of obviousness because both Palatsi and Moore address the problem of making 28 keyboards smaller within the field of user input methods for electronic devices. “[I]f a technique has been used to improve one device, and a person of ordinary skill in the art would recognize that it would improve similar devices in the same way, using the technique is obvious unless its actual application is beyond his or her skill.” KSR, 550 U.S. at 417. Moreover, we also credit Dr. Wolfe’s testimony of how using” slip op. at 28

    • Expert testimonyPetitioner expert creditedPatent owner expert discountedDecided for petitioner

      “Second, and more importantly, we credit Dr. Wolfe’s testimony that the express disclosure of Moore would have conveyed enabling or disabling the touch strips and, which in combination with Palatsi’s processor, would have conveyed to one of ordinary skill in the art “a second mode wherein the controller is unresponsive to contact with one of the banks of touch strip” (Ex. 1205 ¶¶ 185–87). Dr. Wolfe’s testimony relies on an express disclosure of Moore (switching touch strip banks) and explains how one of ordinary skill in the art would understand that teaching. 37 C.F.R. § 42.65(a) (“Expert testimony that does not disclose the underlying facts or data on which the opinion is based is entitled to little or no weight.”). We accord Mr. Ward’s testimony less weight than Dr. Wolfe’s testimony because Dr. Wolfe’s testimony better comports with the express description of Moore of switching between banks of touch strips. In re Acad. of Sci. Tech Ctr., 367 F.3d 1359, 1368 (Fed. Cir. 2004) (“[T]he Board is entitled to weigh the declarations and conclude that the lack of factual corroboration warrants discounting the opinions expressed in the declarations.”). Dr. Wolfe’s testimony also addresses what the combined teachings of Palatsi and Moore would have conveyed to one of ordinary skill in the art (see Ex. 1205 ¶¶ 185–86), whereas Mr. Ward’s testimony unduly focuses on Moore’s isolated disclosures (see, e.g., Ex. 2057 ¶ 78 (“Again, I simply cannot find any disclosure in Moore of the controller ever being rendered unresponsive or the touch strips being rendered disabled or deactivated upon ‘switching between different ones of the banks of strips.’ Ex. 1012 at 4:33–36.”)).” slip op. at 32

    Patent outcomesUS RE43,931 unpatentable
    Claim construction§ 103 obviousnesscites Graham
  • PTAB · Feb 1, 2017 · IPR2015-01806 · APJ Barbara A Benoit · IPR · Final written decision

    Claims 58–69 were held unpatentable as obvious over the combination of Palatsi and Moore under § 103.

    RulingsFinal written decision
    • Skill levelSkill level patent owner adoptedDecided for patent owner

      “We agree with Petitioner’s second point that Patent Owner has added “graphic user interfaces” “and understood the design and functional tradeoffs with regard to the physical constraints of a hand-held device” to Mr. Ward’s testimony. Rather, Mr. Ward opines that one of ordinary skill in the art “would probably have had a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering or computer engineering, at least 2–3 years of hands-on experience working with hand held contact-sensitive user interface devices, and direct knowledge of the types of user interfaces used in mobile phones and handheld devices in 1997.” Ex. 2057 ¶ 22. In reaching this conclusion, Mr. Ward indicates he “considered the ‘931 patent, the types of problems encountered in the art of handheld radio telephone devices and handheld devices, the prior art solutions to those 12 problems, and the educational level of workers active in the field.” Id. In contrast, Dr. Wolfe does not explain the basis for his opinion. 1208 ¶ 58. We determine that the level of ordinary skill proposed by Mr. Ward is consistent with the challenged patent and the asserted prior art, and we therefore adopt this definition of the level of ordinary skill in the art for the purposes of the analysis below. Our analysis would not differ, however, if we adopted Dr. Wolfe’s definition.” slip op. at 12

    • Claim Construction › Threshold & procedure › Whether a term needs construction (O2 Micro)No construction neededNot reached

      “Prior to our Institution Decision, Petitioner proposed constructions for “contact-sensitive transducer . . . which produces an output signal.” Pet. 12– 14. Patent Owner did not propose any express constructions or challenge Petitioner’s proposed construction. See generally PO Resp.; Paper 7 (Patent Owner’s Preliminary Response). In the Institution Decision, we determined that no claim term required express construction. Inst. Dec. 6. In its Response, Patent Owner indicates that it “generally agrees that the constructions proposed by [Petitioner] are in keeping with how a [person of ordinary skill in the art] would have understood those terms.” PO Resp. 23. We determine that no term in the challenged claims requires express construction for this Final Written Decision. See, e.g., Wellman, Inc. v. Eastman Chem. Co., 642 F.3d 1355, 1361 (Fed. Cir. 2011) (“[C]laim terms need only be construed ‘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 14

    • Expert testimonyPetitioner expert creditedPatent owner expert discountedDecided for petitioner
    • Obviousness (§103) › Motivation to combine / reasonable expectation of successMotivation foundReasonable expectation foundUnpatentable

      “elements is not proved obvious merely by demonstrating that each of its elements was, independently, known in the prior art.” KSR, 550 U.S. at 418. Rather, “it can be important to identify a reason that would have prompted a person of ordinary skill in the relevant field to combine the elements in the way the claimed new invention does.” Apple, 839 F.3d at 1058 (quoting KSR, 550 U.S. at 418–19); see also KSR, 550 U.S. at 418 (“[T]here must be some articulated reasoning with some rational underpinning to support the legal conclusion of obviousness.”) (quoting In re Kahn, 441 F.3d 977, 988 (Fed. Cir. 2006)). Here, as Petitioner indicates, Palatsi states that touch sensors may be used as an input device in place of soft keys, which Palatsi uses in a “scrolland-select” system for a portable telephone. Ex. 1087, 4:14–23; 1:15–20, 2:26–29, 2:57–59; see Pet. 18 (citing Ex. 1087, 4:15–23) (“Rather than having one or more keys as the input means the telephone could have, for example, one or more touch sensors. . . .”). Additionally, as Petitioner notes in its Reply, Moore teaches the use of a touch sensor acting like a soft key. Pet. Reply 14 (quoting Ex. 1012, Abstract); Ex. 1012, Abstract (“By selecting an appropriate programming mode the touch strips can be made to present a series of programmable or soft keys.”). We agree with Petitioner that these express teachings of Palatsi and Moore would have been a reason to prompt one of ordinary skill in the art to replace Palatsi’s soft keys with Moore’s touch strips. 27 Furthermore, we agree with Petitioner that, because both Palatsi and Moore address improving user input methods for a user interface, one of ordinary skill in the art “would have looked to Moore’s touch strips as an alternative input method for improving Palatsi’s push-key user interface.” Pet. 18 (citing Ex. 1208 ¶ 141–42). As Petitioner correctly indicates (Pet. 18–19), Palatsi identifies a need for portable, hand-held telephones to be smaller, which requires the size of the keypad on the device to be smaller. Ex. 1087, 1:21–29 (describing “a need for portable telephones (especially hand-held portable telephones) to be smaller, to make them more convenient to carry,” while still maintaining ease of use by not making the input keys to small). Moore describes the conventional use of soft keys to limit keyboard size (Ex. 1012, 1:6–12) and, as Petitioner notes, Moore presents an invention of a position-sensitive touch strip that can be used for menu selection, scrolling, and cursor generation/control with a display terminal. Pet. 16 (citing Ex. 1012, Abstract, 1:27–35, 3:18–25, 3:54–4:28, Fig. 1; Ex. 1208 ¶ 137). These arguments, supported by citations to the references and reasoned testimony by Dr. Wolfe, weigh toward a determination of obviousness because both Palatsi and Moore address the problem of making keyboards smaller within the field of user input methods for electronic devices. “[I]f a technique has been used to improve one device, and a person of ordinary skill in the art would recognize that it would improve similar devices in the same way, using the technique is obvious unless its actual application is beyond his or her skill.” KSR, 550 U.S. at 417.” slip op. at 27

    Patent outcomesUS RE43,931 unpatentable
    Claim construction§ 103 obviousnesscites Graham
  • PTAB · Jan 31, 2017 · IPR2015-01772 · APJ Stacy B Margolies · IPR · Final written decision

    Claims 1–3, 8–12, and 15–19 are unpatentable: claims 1–3, 8, 9, 11, 12, 15, and 17–19 over Camp and Kingdon; claim 10 with Gilbert; and claim 16 with Kurby.

    RulingsFinal written decision
    • Claim Construction › Intrinsic evidence (Phillips canons) › Plain and ordinary meaning to a POSITATerm construed petitioner constructionDecided for petitioner

      “Owner’s narrow reading. The ’815 patent discloses that a GPS receiver can optimize the time for estimating its current position and minimize radio network traffic “based on one or more quality of service (QoS) parameters.” Ex. 1001, 2:54–58. The patent explains that “[t]hese QoS parameters may be computed internally within the mobile terminal or received in a position request from the network.” Id. at 2:58–60 (emphasis added). The patent further explains that the microprocessor in the mobile terminal determines a desired QoS. Id. at 5:29–30, Fig. 2. Specifically, the ’815 patent discloses: To make this determination of QoS, microprocessor 116 may, for example, prompt the user with a menu of choices related to desired positioning quality of service (QoS). One such menu could contain selections such as “Most accurate,” “Fastest,” “Least Expensive.” In this example, the user chooses the desired QoS from the menu. Alternatively, the positioning application 26 executing in microprocessor 116 could automatically utilize a default QoS value, which the user has previously chosen for a particular application and stored in data memory 120. The QoS parameters could also be supplied to the mobile terminal 100 by the requesting application. Id. at 5:30–42 (emphasis added); see also id. at 5:62–6:4 (similarly disclosing that the positioning application 26 could specify a QoS value in the position request). The ’815 patent discloses that the requesting application (the positioning application 26 that requests the position update) may be external to the mobile terminal 100, either within or outside of the mobile communication network 10 (shown in Figure 1). Id. at 3:58–60. Thus, the specification of the ’815 patent discloses that “determining a desired quality of service” includes receiving a QoS parameter or value from an application external to the mobile terminal and within or outside the communication network. The specification also discloses that the QoS parameter may be received in a position request from the network. The specification describes selection of menu choices for only one of the embodiments. The specification does not require selection of an input (by either the user or the position application) to indicate a desired QoS.” slip op. at 16

    • Skill levelSkill level petitioner adoptedDecided for petitioner

      “Patent Owner does not challenge Dr. Goldberg’s testimony regarding the level of skill in the art. See generally PO Resp. However, Mr. Blackburn, Patent Owner’s declarant, opines that a person of ordinary skill in the art would probably have had a graduate degree in computer engineering, electrical engineering, applied physics, or a related field, and at least three years’ experience in the design and development of GPS or cellular location services, systems, and/or devices or (2) a Bachelor’s degree in computer engineering, electrical engineering, applied physics, or a related field, and at least five years’ experience in the design, analysis, and/or development of GPS, cellular and PSTN location services, systems, and/or devices. Ex. 2005 ¶ 11 (emphases added). As illustrated by the emphasized words above, Mr. Blackburn’s proposed level of ordinary skill differs slightly from Dr. Goldberg’s. Patent Owner, however, does not cite the above testimony in its Patent Owner Response. Nor does Patent Owner or Mr. Blackburn explain the reason for including cellular and PSTN location services, or for adding analysis as an alternative in the description of experience in the field. See generally PO Resp. We determine that the level of ordinary skill proposed by Petitioners’ declarant is consistent with the challenged patent and the asserted prior art, and we therefore adopt Dr. Goldberg’s definition of the level of ordinary skill in the art for the purposes of the analysis below. However, our analysis would not differ if we were to adopt Mr. Blackburn’s definition.” slip op. at 13

    • Obviousness (§103) › Motivation to combine / reasonable expectation of successMotivation foundReasonable expectation foundUnpatentable

      “proposed combination to support the legal conclusion of obviousness. Pet. 31–36 (citing, e.g., Ex. 1054 ¶¶ 189–198); see KSR, 550 U.S. at 418. Petitioners persuasively show that an ordinarily skilled artisan would have been motivated to modify Camp’s initiation of the on-demand positioning process to include the requesting application specifying a desired quality of services as taught in Kingdon to allow estimating the position of the mobile terminal using older or newer ephemeris data as desired. Pet. 35–36. As Petitioners explain, and as disclosed in Kingdon, a desired quality of service may vary depending on the application. Pet. 36; Ex. 1025, 8:28–13; see also Ex. 1054 ¶¶ 195–198. Petitioners also contend, and we agree, that both Camp and Kingdon teach a mobile device obtaining location-related data over a network while seeking to minimize the associated cost and network usage and the time it takes to calculate the device’s location. Pet. 31–33 (citing Ex. 1023, 3:23–4:4, 4:7–19, 6:3–9, 7:21–23, 9:24–10:2; Ex. 1025, Abstract, 3:6–8, 6:4–7, 9:9–13; Ex. 1054 ¶¶ 189–191). Petitioners also persuasively contend Kingdon teaches—and a person of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized—that specifying a desired quality of service would have benefitted many applications requesting positioning information on a cell phone. Id. at 33 (citing, e.g., Ex. 1025, 2:23–31, 4:16–20, 7:26– 9:13; Ex. 1023, 10:7–19; Ex. 1054 ¶¶ 192–194). Patent Owner argues against the combination for three reasons: (1) a person of ordinary skill in the art would not have been motivated to include the quality of service of Kingdon in Camp to use ephemeris data older or newer than four hours; (2) Petitioners’ proposed modification would render Camp’s system inoperable for achieving its intended purpose; and (3) there would have been no benefit in modifying Camp with Kingdon. PO Resp. 29–34. Each of these arguments lack merit. First, Patent Owner asserts that an ordinarily skilled artisan would not have modified Camp’s system to allow it to use ephemeris data that is older than four hours “because doing so would render the location attempt effectively nonfunctional.” Id. at 29–30 (citing Ex. 2005 ¶¶ 94–96). Patent Owner also asserts that a skilled artisan would not have modified Camp’s system to use data that is newer than four hours old because ephemeris data in the range of zero to four hours old has substantially the same accuracy. Id. at 30–31 (citing Ex. 2005 ¶¶ 97, 98; Ex. 2002, 41:13–42:5). This argument lacks merit. First, Petitioners’ reasons for combining the teachings of Camp and Kingdon are not limited to changing the ephemeris age parameter. As Petitioners explain, Kingdon teaches the concept of using a desired quality of service, which can include accuracy, timeliness, network impact, or other factors. See Pet. 31–33; Ex. 1025, 6:16–21, 8:28–9:13. We are persuaded that a skilled artisan would have been motivated to use a desired quality of service as taught in Kingdon to determine whether the stored data is sufficient. Second, the cited declaration testimony of Mr. Blackburn that using data older than four hours renders the location attempt nonfunctional is inconsistent with the ’815 patent, which discloses an embodiment in which aged ephemeris data (data older than four hours) could still be used to “acquire and measure satellite signals and compute an approximate position which does not necessarily meet the final accuracy QoS.” Ex. 1001, 6:59–7:13; see also Pet. Reply 17–18.” slip op. at 38

    • Obviousness (§103) › Motivation to combine / reasonable expectation of success › Teaching awayTeaching away not foundDecided for petitioner

      “obtaining additional aiding data from a remote source if said stored aiding data is insufficient to compute said estimate of said current position meeting said desired quality of service” for two reasons. PO Resp. 28–29. First, Patent Owner argues that because Camp and Kingdon fail to teach a mobile terminal determining a desired quality of service, Camp and Kingdon necessarily fail to teach this limitation. PO Resp. 28. For the reasons discussed above in connection with the “determining a desired quality of service” step, this argument lacks merit. Patent Owner also asserts that Kingdon explicitly teaches away from the claim limitation because if the requested quality of service cannot be met, a failure message is sent. Id. at 29 (citing Ex. 1025, 9:14–22; Ex. 2005 ¶ 93). We do not agree with Patent Owner that Kingdon teaches away from Petitioners’ proposed combination. Kingdon discloses that a positioning request will not be performed if the requested quality of service cannot be met, but Kingdon does not criticize, discredit, or otherwise discourage obtaining additional aiding data instead. See In re Fulton, 391 F.3d 1195, 1201 (Fed. Cir. 2004). Because we agree with Petitioners’ analysis of the evidence, as discussed above, we determine that Petitioners have shown that the combination of Camp and Kingdon teaches “obtaining additional aiding data from a remote source if said stored aiding data is insufficient to compute said estimate of said current position meeting said desired quality of service.” slip op. at 37

    Patent outcomesUS 6,535,815 unpatentable
    Claim construction§ 103 obviousnesscites KSR · Graham
    Patents in suitUS 6,535,815
  • PTAB · Dec 21, 2016 · IPR2015-01226 · APJ Kevin F Turner · IPR · Final written decision

    Claims 1–28 are unpatentable under § 103 over the specified combinations; the motion to amend with substitute claims 29–50 is denied.

    RulingsFinal written decision
    • PTAB / AIA Trials › Real party in interest / privityRpi dispute resolved for petitionerDecided for petitioner

      “We found Patent Owner’s arguments and evidence to be insufficient to show a real party-in-interest issue. Discovery Order 8–10. First, we found the mere existence of the relationship between Petitioner and a parent company (American Securities) to be insufficient to demonstrate a real party-in-interest issue. Id. at 8. In addition, we determined the evidence did not show that American Securities and Petitioner have “corporate boundaries that were inextricably intertwined.” Id. Second, we found the existence of common directors or employees between American Securities and Petitioner to be insufficient to show a real party-in-interest issue, unless the directors controlled or participated in the filing of the proceedings. Discovery Order 9. We found insufficient evidence that common officers between American Securities and Petitioner were involved in the filing of the present proceedings or had the ability to direct the filing of the present proceedings. Id. Nor did we find persuasive evidence that American Securities provided any prior art to Petitioner in the instant proceedings. Id.” slip op. at 11

    • ExcludeNot reached

      “Similar to the posture of Petitioner’s First Motion to Exclude, the current situation does not require us to assess the merits of Petitioner’s Second Motion to Exclude. See Discovery Order 13 (indicating that Patent Owner’s evidence was insufficient, “even without excluding Patent Owner’s supporting evidence”). According to Petitioner, the two declarations filed by Patent Owner in support of its Motion for Additional Discovery allegedly recount statements made by Petitioner’s CEO during settlement discussions between Patent Owner and GTL. Mot. Exc. 2nd 1–2.” slip op. at 13

    • Skill levelSkill level petitioner adoptedDecided for petitioner

      “Petitioner’s declarant, Mr. James R. Bress, testifies that one of ordinary skill in the art “would have a [Bachelor of Science] B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, or an equivalent or related field (or comparable industry experience), as well as at least 2–3 years of academic or industry experience with call monitoring or recording.” Ex. 1003 ¶ 30; see Pet. 11 (citing Ex. 1003 ¶ 30). Patent Owner’s declarant, Dr. Michael A. Caloyannides, proposes that Petitioner’s definition be 21 adopted. Ex. 2013 ¶ 24. We adopt Mr. Bress’ definition of the level of ordinary skill in the art for the purposes of the analysis below.” slip op. at 21

    • Obviousness (§103) › Motivation to combine / reasonable expectation of successMotivation foundReasonable expectation foundUnpatentable

      “We determine that Petitioner has articulated sufficient reasoning with some rational underpinning to support the combinations of (1) Schrage and Koga; (2) Schrage, Koga, Creamer, and Peterson; (3) Schrage, Koga, and Glowny; (4) Schrage, Koga, Glowny, Peterson, and Creamer; and (5) Schrage, Koga, Glowny, and Ostrover. See KSR, 550 U.S. at 420 (“Under the correct analysis, any need or problem known in the field of endeavor at the time of invention and addressed by the patent can provide a reason for combining the elements in the manner claimed.”). We also credit Mr. Bress’ testimony that one of ordinary skill in the art would have had reason to combine the cited references. Ex. 1003. For these reasons, we determine that Petitioner demonstrates by a preponderance of the evidence that the combination of Schrage and Koga would have conveyed to one of ordinary skill in the art the limitations recited in claim 15. We also determine that Petitioner demonstrates by a preponderance of the evidence articulated reasoning with some rational underpinning to support the legal conclusion that the subject matter of claim 15 would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art in view of the teachings of Schrage and Koga as combined in the manner proposed by Petitioner.” slip op. at 33

    Patent outcomesUS 8,135,115 unpatentable
    § 103 obviousnesscites KSR · Graham
    Patents in suitUS 8,135,115
  • PTAB · Dec 14, 2016 · IPR2015-01359 · APJ Lynne E Pettigrew · IPR · Final written decision

    Claims 1–3 and 5–7 were not shown unpatentable because Petitioner failed to establish that Hiroi taught the claimed voice delay for synchronizing voice and text.

    RulingsFinal written decision
    • Skill levelSkill level petitioner adoptedDecided for petitioner

      “address the qualifications of one of ordinary skill in the art, but instead assert only that the relevant field of endeavor for the ’426 patent is “telephone communications.” PO Resp. 2; Ex. 2098 ¶ 25. This contention appears to relate to Patent Owner’s argument that Hiroi is not analogous art rather than to the level of ordinary skill in the art for assessing obviousness. See PO Resp. 36–49; Ex. 2098 ¶¶ 123–41. Thus, Patent Owner and its expert do not expressly dispute the level of skill in the art proffered by Petitioner and Mr. Occhiogrosso. In addition, although he does not offer his own opinion regarding the qualifications of a person having ordinary skill in the art, Mr. Zatkovich acknowledges Mr. Occhiogrosso’s definition and states that unless otherwise noted, the opinions expressed in his declaration testimony would not change under Mr. Occhiogrosso’s definition. Ex. 2098 ¶ 25 (citing Ex. 1012 ¶ 29). Based on our review of the record, including the experts’ testimony, the ’426 patent, and the prior art involved in this proceeding, we find that Petitioner’s proposal, as set forth by Mr. Occhiogrosso, accurately describes the qualifications of a person having ordinary skill in the art. Accordingly, we adopt Mr. Occhiogrosso’s characterization of the level of ordinary skill in the art.” slip op. at 8

    • Claim Construction › Threshold & procedure › Whether a term needs construction (O2 Micro)Term construed petitioner constructionOther

      “patent according to their broadest reasonable construction in light of the specification of the patent in which they appear. 37 C.F.R. § 42.100(b); see Cuozzo Speed Techs., LLC v. Lee, 136 S. Ct. 2131, 2144–46 (2016) (holding that 37 C.F.R. § 42.100(b) “represents a reasonable exercise of the rulemaking authority that Congress delegated to the Patent Office”). Consistent with the broadest reasonable construction, claim terms are presumed to have their ordinary and customary meaning as understood by a person of ordinary skill in the art in the context of the entire patent disclosure. In re Translogic Tech., Inc., 504 F.3d 1249, 1257 (Fed. Cir. 2007). An inventor may provide a meaning for a term that is different from its ordinary meaning by defining the term in the specification with reasonable clarity, deliberateness, and precision. In re Paulsen, 30 F.3d 1475, 1480 (Fed. Cir. 1994). In the Institution Decision, we adopted Petitioner’s proposed construction of “assisted user,” recited in claims 1 and 5, as “a user who may be deaf or hard of hearing, but who also may be a normally hearing person who simply wants text assistance for some reason.” Dec. 5–6. Patent Owner does not challenge that construction. After considering the complete record, we maintain this construction of “assisted user” for this Final Written Decision. No other claim terms require express construction.” slip op. at 5

    • Obviousness (§103) › Graham factors (scope of art, differences, level of skill)Not shown unpatentableNot shown unpatentable
    • Obviousness (§103) › Motivation to combine / reasonable expectation of successMotivation foundDecided for petitioner

      “We agree with and adopt Petitioner’s contentions as to how the combination of Engelke ’482 and Engelke ’405 teaches the identified limitations of claim 1. See Pet. 21–30. We also determine that a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention would have combined Engelke ’482 and Engelke ’405 in the manner asserted. In particular, we agree with Petitioner that combining the disclosure in Engelke ’405 of sending both voice and text to an assisted user who is hard of hearing with the re-voicing relay of Engelke ’482, which only provides text to an assisted user, would have been the application of a known technique to improve similar devices in the same way, and a combination of prior art elements according to known methods to yield predictable results. See Pet. 37–42, 44–45 (citing KSR, 550 U.S. at 416; Ex. 1012 ¶¶ 62–69).” slip op. at 13

    Patent outcomesUS 6,493,426 not shown unpatentable
    Claim construction§ 103 obviousnesscites Graham
    Patents in suitUS 6,493,426
  • PTAB · Dec 14, 2016 · IPR2015-01357 · APJ Lynne E Pettigrew · IPR · Final written decision

    Claim 1 was not shown unpatentable because the asserted combination did not establish that Hiroi taught or motivated the claimed voice delay.

    RulingsFinal written decision
    • Skill levelSkill level petitioner adoptedDecided for petitioner

      “address the qualifications of one of ordinary skill in the art, but instead assert only that the relevant field of endeavor for the ’366 patent is “telephone communications.” PO Resp. 2; Ex. 2098 ¶ 25. This contention appears to relate to Patent Owner’s argument that Hiroi is not analogous art rather than to the level of ordinary skill in the art for assessing obviousness. See PO Resp. 35–48; Ex. 2098 ¶¶ 122–40. Thus, Patent Owner and its expert do not expressly dispute the level of skill in the art proffered by Petitioner and Mr. Occhiogrosso. In addition, although he does not offer his own opinion regarding the qualifications of a person having ordinary skill in the art, Mr. Zatkovich acknowledges Mr. Occhiogrosso’s definition and states that unless otherwise noted, the opinions expressed in his declaration testimony would not change under Mr. Occhiogrosso’s definition. Ex. 2098 ¶ 25 (citing Ex. 1012 ¶ 29). Based on our review of the record, including the experts’ testimony, the ’366 patent, and the prior art involved in this proceeding, we find that Petitioner’s proposal, as set forth by Mr. Occhiogrosso, accurately describes the qualifications of a person having ordinary skill in the art. Accordingly, we adopt Mr. Occhiogrosso’s characterization of the level of ordinary skill in the art.” slip op. at 8

    • Claim Construction › Threshold & procedure › Whether a term needs construction (O2 Micro)Term construed petitioner constructionDecided for petitioner

      “In the Institution Decision, we adopted Petitioner’s proposed construction of “assisted user” as “a user who may be deaf or hard of hearing, but who also may be a normally hearing person who simply wants text assistance for some reason.” Dec. 5–6. Patent Owner does not challenge that construction. After considering the complete record, we maintain this construction of “assisted user” for this Final Written Decision. No other claim terms require express construction.” slip op. at 6

    • ExcludeNot reached

      “Under the circumstances in this case, we need not assess the merits of Patent Owner’s Motion to Exclude. As discussed above, even without excluding Mr. Occhiogrosso’s testimony, we have determined that Petitioner has not demonstrated by a preponderance of the evidence that the challenged claims are unpatentable. Accordingly, Patent Owner’s Motion to Exclude is dismissed as moot.” slip op. at 18

    • Obviousness (§103) › Graham factors (scope of art, differences, level of skill)Not shown unpatentableNot shown unpatentable
    Patent outcomesUS 6,934,366 not shown unpatentable
    Claim construction§ 103 obviousnesscites Graham
    Patents in suitUS 6,934,366
  • PTAB · Dec 9, 2016 · IPR2015-01219 · APJ Kevin F Turner · IPR · Final written decision

    Claims 1–32 are unpatentable as obvious over Rae, Sulmar, and Falcone; the motion to amend with substitute claims 33–57 is denied.

    RulingsFinal written decision
    • PTAB / AIA Trials › Real party in interest / privityRpi dispute resolved for petitionerDecided for petitioner

      “We disagree that Patent Owner has introduced evidence reasonably bringing into question the accuracy of GTL’s identification of the real parties-in-interest in its Petition. First, in its Patent Owner Response, Patent Owner makes conclusory assertions, without explaining how any evidence of record supports Patent Owner’s contentions, such as that the “private equity firm American Securities . . . has the ability to control GTL in general and in [this] proceeding[].” PO Resp. 41 (citing generally Exs. 2002–2011, Discovery Motion, Prelim. Resp.); id. at 41–43 (asserting that its evidence “reasonably brings into question the accuracy” of Petitioner’s identification of the real party-in-interest in its Petition).” slip op. at 10

    • ExcludeNot reached

      “Similar to the posture of Petitioner’s First Motion to Exclude, the current situation does not require us to assess the merits of Petitioner’s Second Motion to Exclude. See Discovery Order, 13 (indicating that Patent Owner’s evidence was insufficient, “even without excluding Patent Owner’s supporting evidence”). According to Petitioner, the two declarations filed by Patent Owner in support of its Motion for Additional Discovery allegedly” slip op. at 13

    • Claim Construction › Threshold & procedure › Whether a term needs construction (O2 Micro)Term construed board ownDecided for petitioner

      “We agree with Petitioner. The subject limitation of claim 1 is “determining whether a charge for message service using message service communication protocol can be billed to the cellular telephone.” As we discussed in the Institution Decision, the Specification discusses two determinations, and we are not persuaded that both determinations must be satisfied to satisfy claim 1. See Dec. 16–17. As understood at the time of the invention of the ’118 Patent, and as understood today, the physical cellular phone may receive a message or call, but does not receive a charge, per se. Patent Owner has not provided any examples of mobile devices that “do their own billing,” i.e., that internally bill a charge and/or process payments, and we are unaware of such mobile devices. Rather, the charges are handled by a mobile carrier, and can follow a myriad of billing arrangements, which can be purely business agreements, subject to negotiation and not subject to technical requirements. We credit the testimony of Dr. Forys, providing that the ’118 Patent focuses on the ability to charge the phone when a message is transmitted to it, not on the ability of the phone to receive a message. Ex. 1026 ¶¶ 25–28. Furthermore, we determine that focusing on technical capabilities of the called party’s phone 21 ignores the role of the carrier, which is the essential entity in the billing process. As such, we maintain our interpretation of the “determining” step of claim 1, and apply it in our consideration of the ground below.” slip op. at 21

    • Skill levelSkill level petitioner adoptedDecided for petitioner

      “Petitioner’s declarant, Dr. Leonard J. Forys, testifies that one of ordinary skill in the art “would have a [Bachelor of Science] B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, or an equivalent field as well as at least 3–5 years of academic or industry experience in communications systems, or comparable industry experience.” Ex. 1003 ¶ 30; see Pet. 9 (citing Ex. 1003 ¶ 30). Patent Owner’s declarant, Mr. Bradley O. Walton, contends one of ordinary skill in the art “would have a bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, or an equivalent field and at least three years of academic or industry experience in telecommunications 25 systems.” Ex. 2012 ¶¶ 37. We determine the differences in the declarants’ assertions to be negligible and that both definitions are consistent with the ’118 Patent and the referenced prior art, and we adopt Dr. Forys’ definition of the level of ordinary skill in the art for the purposes of the analysis below.” slip op. at 25

    Patent outcomesUS 8,626,118 unpatentable
    Claim construction§ 103 obviousnesscites KSR · Graham
    Patents in suitUS 8,626,118

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.