- Daicel Corporation v. Celanese International CorporationRehearing grantedPTAB · Jun 26, 2015 · IPR2015-00170 · APJ Linda M Gaudette · IPR · Rehearing
Rehearing was granted in part and review instituted on claims 1–4, 6–11, and 13 as obvious over Singh, the ’095 patent, and Akinori.
RulingsRehearing decision- RehearingRehearing, grantedGranted in part
“the Board reviews the decision for an abuse of discretion. 37 C.F.R. § 42.71(c). An abuse of discretion may arise if a decision is based on an erroneous interpretation of law, if a factual finding is not supported by substantial evidence, or if an unreasonable judgment is made in weighing relevant factors. Star Fruits S.N.C. v. U.S., 393 F.3d 1277, 1281 (Fed. Cir. 2005); Arnold P’ship v. Dudas, 362 F.3d 1338, 1340 (Fed. Cir. 2004); In re Gartside, 203 F.3d 1305, 1315–16 (Fed. Cir. 2000). The party requesting rehearing has the burden of showing that the decision should be modified, and “[t]he request must specifically identify all matters the party believes the Board misapprehended or overlooked.” 37 C.F.R. § 42.71(d).” slip op. at 2
- PTAB / AIA Trials › Institution threshold (reasonable likelihood / more likely than not)InstitutedInstituted
“overlooked the discussion on page 26 of the Petition which relies on Mr. Cooper’s declaration testimony. Mr. Cooper’s testimony is supported by underlying factual evidence, and is not based solely on unsupported assumptions and the Miura Declaration, which we determined were not persuasive evidence that DME would be present inherently in the overhead distillation of the ’095 patent Example. Thus, we agree with Petitioner that on the record before us, and for purposes of our decision on whether to institute trial on this challenge, Mr. Cooper’s testimony provides persuasive support for Petitioner’s contention that DME is inherently present in an overhead distillation stream of the ’095 patent process. Further, for purposes of this decision, the Petition identifies sufficiently how Singh discloses features in the dependent claims that are not explicitly described in the ’095 patent. See, e.g., Pet. 56 (claim 2), id. at 57 (claim 8). The Petitioner also provides adequate explanation of reasons for combining the references. See Pet. 50. In sum, upon reconsideration of this challenge in light of the Request for Rehearing, we determine Petitioner has provided sufficient explanation and evidence to support a reasonable likelihood that it would prevail on the merits in showing claims 1–4, 6–11, and 13 would have been unpatentable over Singh, the ’095 patent, and Akinori. Therefore, the Request for Rehearing is granted and trial is instituted as to this challenge.” slip op. at 9
- Novelty / Anticipation (§102) › Anticipation standard (single reference, every element) › Inherent disclosureNot shown unpatentableInherency not foundNot shown unpatentable
“declaration testimony; rather, we assessed the persuasiveness of Mr. Miura’s testimony in light of other factual evidence in the record. See Dec. 16–20; Velander v. Garner, 348 F.3d 1359, 1371 (Fed. Cir. 2003) (“It is within the discretion of the trier of fact to give each item of evidence such weight as it feels appropriate. . . . In giving more weight to prior publications than to subsequent conclusory statements by experts, the Board acted well within that discretion.”). We did not conclude DME is absent in the distillation overhead in the ’095 patent Example. We found Mr. Miura’s testimony and Experiment 1 were not persuasive evidence that DME would be present inherently in the overhead distillation of the ’095 patent Example given the differences in the ’095 patent Example and Experiment 1 reaction liquids. Thesedifferences were not addressed adequately by Mr. Miura. In this regard, we found Mr. Miura’s dismissal of these differences as “slight,” without further discussion, was not persuasive in light of our actual comparison of the ’095 patent Example and Experiment 1, that revealed “Miura’s Experiment 1 contained more than twice the amount of rhodium and about 34% of the amount of water used in the ’095 patent Example,” Dec. 19, and our review of the ’095 patent and Petitioner’s own patent, U.S. Patent No. 7,683,212 B2 (Ex. 2014), that indicate these differences would affect the reaction product, Dec. 20.” slip op. at 4
- Obviousness (§103) › Motivation to combine / reasonable expectation of successNot reached
“overlooked the discussion on page 26 of the Petition which relies on Mr. Cooper’s declaration testimony. Mr. Cooper’s testimony is supported by underlying factual evidence, and is not based solely on unsupported assumptions and the Miura Declaration, which we determined were not persuasive evidence that DME would be present inherently in the overhead distillation of the ’095 patent Example. Thus, we agree with Petitioner that on the record before us, and for purposes of our decision on whether to institute trial on this challenge, Mr. Cooper’s testimony provides persuasive support for Petitioner’s contention that DME is inherently present in an overhead distillation stream of the ’095 patent process. Further, for purposes of this decision, the Petition identifies sufficiently how Singh discloses features in the dependent claims that are not explicitly described in the ’095 patent. See, e.g., Pet. 56 (claim 2), id. at 57 (claim 8). The Petitioner also provides adequate explanation of reasons for combining the references. See Pet. 50.” slip op. at 9
§ 102 anticipation§ 103 obviousnessPatents in suitUS 8,076,507 - Reg Synthetic Fuels LLC v. Neste Oil OyjAll claims unpatentablePTAB · Jun 5, 2015 · IPR2014-00192 · APJ Christopher L Crumbley · IPR · Final written decision
Claims 1–24 are unpatentable under § 103; proposed substitute claims 25–28 are patentable and entered because the prior art did not motivate the claimed 5,000–8,000 w-ppm sulfur range.
RulingsFinal written decision- PTAB / AIA Trials › Motions to amend / substitute claimsMotion to amend, grantedGranted
“Based on the record before us, we conclude that Neste has carried its burden of demonstrating that claim 25 is patentable over the prior art of record. We concluded above, in discussing the original claims, that a person of ordinary skill in the art would have had reason to combine Jakkula and Monnier I to add sulfur to the feedstock of an HDO process that is followed by an HI step, because the prior art suggests that concentrations of 2000 or 4431 w-ppm have beneficial effects on catalyst activation and decarboxylation selectivity. A person of ordinary skill would, therefore, weigh the possible deleterious effects of sulfur on the HI catalyst, against the 28 possible benefits. The question of whether a person of ordinary skill in the art would have had reason to add an even higher concentration of sulfur—in the range of 5000–8000 w-ppm—is an altogether different one. The record before us does not establish persuasively that there was any art-recognized benefit to using a concentration of sulfur over 4431 w-ppm. Absent any indication of a benefit to be obtained from adding even greater amounts of sulfur, the skilled artisan would have no reason to make the modifications to Jakkula necessary to result in the claimed invention. Such modifications would involve catalyst replacement costs, additional processing steps such as stripping, or catalyst substitutions18 that—although not prohibitive if the prior art suggested a benefit might be obtained—would not be undertaken if the person of ordinary skill saw no benefit to making them. For these reasons, we conclude that Neste has established sufficiently that there was no reason to modify the prior art to arrive at the process of claim 25.” slip op. at 28
- Expert testimonyPetitioner expert discountedOther
“We are not convinced by REG’s rate constant argument. First, REG does not direct us to any evidence in the record, other than the testimony of Dr. Sughrue, that establishes that increasing the rate constant of the conversion reaction was recognized in the art to be beneficial. This is in stark contrast to decarboxylation selectivity, which is described by several 17 Furthermore, as discussed above with respect to Laurent I, we do not find such a significant increase in sulfur concentration—from 2000 to 5000–8000 w-ppm—to be “routine.” 26 references as decreasing hydrogen consumption and, therefore, processing cost. We are, therefore, left with only Dr. Sughrue’s statement that an “increase in rate constant is important because a higher activity allows for less catalyst to be used to deoxygenate the feedstock.” Ex. 1043 ¶ 125. Dr. Sughrue cites no support for such an assertion, and we accord it little weight. See 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.”). Second, we note that Table 4 of Laurent II reports, along with kDES, the rate constants k4MA and kGUA, pertaining to the HDO conversion of 4- methylacetophenone and guaiacol, respectively. Ex. 1011, 107. While kDES is shown to increase with sulfur concentration, k4MA decreases and kGUA is unaffected by sulfur concentration. Id. REG provides no evidence or argument establishing why a person of ordinary skill in the art would have considered only the kDES rate constant in determining the benefit of increased sulfur concentration.” slip op. at 26
- Skill levelSkill level board ownOther
“evidence that the prior art teaches all elements of challenged claims 1–24, and that a person of ordinary skill in the art would have had reason to combine the disclosures. Furthermore, we conclude that such a combination would have been within the level of ordinary skill in the art, as evidenced by 17 the prior art of record. We, therefore, conclude that claims 1–24 would have been obvious at the time of the invention, and thus are unpatentable under 35 U.S.C. § 103.” slip op. at 17
- Obviousness (§103) › Graham factors (scope of art, differences, level of skill)UnpatentableUnpatentable
Patent outcomesUS 8,278,492 unpatentable§ 103 obviousnesscites KSRPatents in suitUS 8,278,492 - Facebook, Inc. / Linkedin Corp. et al. v. Software Rights Archive, LLCSome claims unpatentablePTAB · Jan 30, 2015 · IPR2013-00480 · APJ Barbara A Parvis · IPR · Final written decision
Claim 14 was held unpatentable as anticipated by Fox Thesis; claims 1, 5, 15, and 16 were not shown unpatentable.
RulingsFinal written decision- Claim Construction › Intrinsic evidence (Phillips canons) › Plain and ordinary meaning to a POSITATerm construed board ownDecided for patent owner
“determine whether “cluster links” means relationships between two nodes, which are represented in data stored in a computer. Claim 1 recites a method of analyzing data in a database with indirect relationships using links and nodes. Claim 14 similarly recites a method for representing the relationship between nodes, using stored direct links, paths, and candidate cluster links. As explained in the ’494 Patent specification, data in the database may be represented as a node. Ex. 1001, 12:29–33. Exemplary nodes include an object or a portion of an object, a document or section of a document, and a World Wide Web page. Id. at 12:35–38. The ’494 Patent specification states that a link is a “relationship between two nodes.” Id. at 12:65–66. The ’494 Patent specification continues, “[a] link [] can be represented by a vector or an entry on a table and contain information for example, a from-node identification [] (ID), a to-node ID [], a link type [], and a weight.” Id. at 13:3–6. As described in the ’494 Patent specification, a link is represented in data stored in a computer. We, therefore, determine that “cluster links” means relationships, which are represented in data stored in a computer and are used for grouping interrelated nodes.” slip op. at 11
- Novelty / Anticipation (§102) › Anticipation standard (single reference, every element)Not shown unpatentableNot shown unpatentable
“As described in Fox SMART, the concentration tests that are cited by Petitioner are performed as part of forming the cluster tree. Id. Petitioner does not identify disclosure in Fox SMART of deleting clusters other than those that simply overlap, or duplicate, other clusters. Overlapping clusters are deleted following a routine that identifies plausible clustering with “no limit on overlap.” Id. Additionally, Fox SMART includes code that collects orphans. Id. at 52. Petitioner, however, has not shown that Fox SMART describes a subset which does not include these orphans. Dr. Fox’s supplemental testimony that “Fox SMART teaches that potential (i.e., candidate) clusters are rejected (‘deleted’) if they fail any one of these tests” (Ex. 1028 ¶ 281 (citing Ex. 1005, 51)) suggests that the terms “rejected” and “deleted” are the same. We do not agree. In view of Dr. Fox’s testimony in both of his Declarations and the testimony of Dr. Jacobs, we find that one of ordinary skill in the art reasonably would have understood Fox SMART as describing deleting overlap that had been generated by the immediately preceding software routine. Additionally, we find that one of ordinary skill in the art reasonably would have understood Fox SMART as describing that the tests referred to by Dr. Fox are processed during formation of the tree. We, therefore, determine that Dr. Fox’s testimony does not address persuasively the requirement in claim 1 of deriving a subset of the already generated candidate cluster links.” slip op. at 15
- PTAB / AIA Trials › Motions to amend / substitute claimsMotion to amend, grantedGranted
“FURTHER ORDERED that Patent Owner’s Motion to Amend to cancel claims 8, 10, 11, 35, and 40 of the ’494 Patent is GRANTED;” slip op. at 24
- ExcludeMotion to exclude, deniedDenied
“arguments for the first time. Paper 44, 1. A reply may respond to arguments raised in the corresponding patent owner response. 37 C.F.R. § 42.23(a). 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 unpatentability of a claim. Office Patent Trial Practice Guide, 77 Fed.Reg. 48,756, 48,767 (Aug. 14, 2012). We determine that the evidence presented in the Reply Fox Declaration that is discussed in this Decision properly responds to arguments raised in the Patent Owner Response. Additionally, we do not rely on evidence in the Reply Fox Declaration in our determination that Petitioner established by a preponderance of the evidence that claim 14 is unpatentable. For the reasons given, we deny Patent Owner’s Motion to Exclude.” slip op. at 22
Patent outcomesUS 5,832,494 mixedClaim construction§ 102 anticipationcites PhillipsPatents in suitUS 5,832,494 - PTAB · Sep 12, 2014 · IPR2013-00555 · APJ Christopher L Crumbley · IPR · Order
The Board granted the parties’ joint motions and terminated the five inter partes reviews without issuing final written decisions.
RulingsOther- PTAB / AIA Trials › Other PTAB motions (exclude, strike, seal, additional discovery, rehearing)Granted
“Based on the present record, we determine that it is appropriate to terminate these inter partes reviews both as to Sealed Air and Pregis without rendering a final written decision. See 35 U.S.C. § 317(a); 37 C.F.R. § 42.72.” slip op. at 3
None - PTAB · Sep 12, 2014 · IPR2013-00557 · APJ Christopher L Crumbley · IPR · Order
The Board granted the parties’ joint motions and terminated the five related inter partes reviews without a final written decision.
RulingsOther- PTAB / AIA Trials › Other PTAB motions (exclude, strike, seal, additional discovery, rehearing)Granted
“Under 35 U.S.C. § 317(a), “[a]n inter partes review instituted under this chapter shall be terminated with respect to any petitioner upon the joint request of the petitioner and patent owner, unless the Office has decided the merits of the proceeding before the request for termination is filed.” In these proceedings, the Board instituted trial on March 6, 2014 (Paper 13), but has not yet reached a decision on the merits with respect to the patentability of any involved claim. Accordingly, the requirement for terminating the reviews with respect to Sealed Air, as Petitioner, is met.” slip op. at 2
NonePatents in suitUS 7,047,705 - PTAB · Sep 12, 2014 · IPR2013-00554 · APJ Christopher L Crumbley · IPR · Order
The Board granted the parties’ joint motions and terminated the five inter partes reviews without a final written decision.
RulingsOther- PTAB / AIA Trials › Other PTAB motions (exclude, strike, seal, additional discovery, rehearing)Granted
“Under 35 U.S.C. § 317(a), “[a]n inter partes review instituted under this chapter shall be terminated with respect to any petitioner upon the joint request of the petitioner and patent owner, unless the Office has decided the merits of the proceeding before the request for termination is filed.” In these proceedings, the Board instituted trial on March 6, 2014 (Paper 13), but has not yet reached a decision on the merits with respect to the patentability of any involved claim. Accordingly, the requirement for terminating the reviews with respect to Sealed Air, as Petitioner, is met. Also under 35 U.S.C. § 317(a), “[i]f no petitioner remains in the inter partes review, the Office may terminate the review or proceed to a final written decision under section 318(a).” Sealed Air is the sole Petitioner. The Board, therefore, has discretion to terminate these reviews with respect to Pregis. In their joint motions, the parties contend that the trials are at a “sufficiently early stage,” as Sealed Air has not yet filed its Replies to Pregis’ Patent Owner Responses, and no motions are outstanding at this time. Paper 45, 2-3. The parties also note that they have agreed to dismiss the co-pending district court action Pregis Innovative Packaging, Inc. v. Sealed Air Corporation (D. Del. Civil Action No. 13-1084-LPS), involving the patents and parties before us here. Id.” slip op. at 2
None - PTAB · Sep 12, 2014 · IPR2013-00556 · APJ Christopher L Crumbley · IPR · Order
The Board granted the joint motions and terminated the five inter partes reviews without a final written decision.
RulingsOther- PTAB / AIA Trials › Other PTAB motions (exclude, strike, seal, additional discovery, rehearing)Granted
“Under 35 U.S.C. § 317(a), “[a]n inter partes review instituted under this chapter shall be terminated with respect to any petitioner upon the joint request of the petitioner and patent owner, unless the Office has decided the merits of the proceeding before the request for termination is filed.” In these proceedings, the Board instituted trial on March 6, 2014 (Paper 13), but has not yet reached a decision on the merits with respect to the patentability of any involved claim. Accordingly, the requirement for terminating the reviews with respect to Sealed Air, as Petitioner, is met. Also under 35 U.S.C. § 317(a), “[i]f no petitioner remains in the inter partes review, the Office may terminate the review or proceed to a final written decision under section 318(a).” Sealed Air is the sole Petitioner. The Board, therefore, has discretion to terminate these reviews with respect to Pregis. In their joint motions, the parties contend that the trials are at a “sufficiently early stage,” as Sealed Air has not yet filed its Replies to Pregis’ Patent Owner Responses, and no motions are outstanding at this time. Paper 45, 2-3. The parties also note that they have agreed to dismiss the co-pending district court action Pregis Innovative Packaging, Inc. v. Sealed Air Corporation (D. Del. Civil Action No. 13-1084-LPS), involving the patents and parties before us here. Id. 1 Unless otherwise noted, citations are to the record of IPR2013-00554; similar papers may be found in the records of the other related proceedings. Based on the present record, we determine that it is appropriate to terminate these inter partes reviews both as to Sealed Air and Pregis without rendering a final written decision. See 35 U.S.C. § 317(a); 37 C.F.R. § 42.72.” slip op. at 2
NonePatents in suitUS 6,607,803 - PTAB · Sep 12, 2014 · IPR2013-00558 · APJ Christopher L Crumbley · IPR · Order
The Board granted the parties’ joint motions and terminated the five inter partes reviews without a final written decision.
RulingsOther- PTAB / AIA Trials › Other PTAB motions (exclude, strike, seal, additional discovery, rehearing)Granted
“Under 35 U.S.C. § 317(a), “[a]n inter partes review instituted under this chapter shall be terminated with respect to any petitioner upon the joint request of the petitioner and patent owner, unless the Office has decided the merits of the proceeding before the request for termination is filed.” In these proceedings, the Board instituted trial on March 6, 2014 (Paper 13), but has not yet reached a decision on the merits with respect to the patentability of any involved claim. Accordingly, the requirement for terminating the reviews with respect to Sealed Air, as Petitioner, is met. Also under 35 U.S.C. § 317(a), “[i]f no petitioner remains in the inter partes review, the Office may terminate the review or proceed to a final written decision under section 318(a).” Sealed Air is the sole Petitioner. The Board, therefore, has discretion to terminate these reviews with respect to Pregis. In their joint motions, the parties contend that the trials are at a “sufficiently early stage,” as Sealed Air has not yet filed its Replies to Pregis’ Patent Owner Responses, and no motions are outstanding at this time. Paper 45, 2-3. The parties also note that they have agreed to dismiss the co-pending district court action Pregis Innovative Packaging, Inc. v. Sealed Air Corporation (D. Del. Civil Action No. 13-1084-LPS), involving the patents and parties before us here. Id.” slip op. at 2
NonePatents in suitUS 7,047,705 - PTAB · Jul 16, 2014 · IPR2014-00151 · APJ Christopher L Crumbley · IPR · Order
The Board granted the parties’ joint motion and terminated the inter partes review without a final written decision on patentability.
RulingsOther- PTAB / AIA Trials › Other PTAB motions (exclude, strike, seal, additional discovery, rehearing)Granted
“Based on the present record, we determine that it is appropriate to terminate this inter partes review both as to Petitioner Norwex and Patent Owner UMF without rendering a final written decision. See 35 U.S.C. § 317(a); 37 C.F.R. § 42.72.” slip op. at 3
NonePatents in suitUS 6,258,455 - PTAB · Jul 15, 2014 · IPR2014-00120 · APJ Christopher L Crumbley · IPR · Order
The Board granted the parties’ joint motion and terminated the inter partes review as to WMS and MGT without a final written decision.
RulingsOther- PTAB / AIA Trials › Institution threshold (reasonable likelihood / more likely than not)InstitutedInstituted
“Under 35 U.S.C. § 317(a), “[a]n inter partes review instituted under this chapter shall be terminated with respect to any petitioner upon the joint request of the petitioner and patent owner, unless the Office has decided the merits of the proceeding before the request for termination is filed.” In this proceeding, the Board instituted trial on April 30, 2014 (Paper 10), but has not yet reached a decision on the merits with respect to the patentability of any involved claim. Accordingly, the requirement for terminating review with respect to WMS, as petitioner, is met.” slip op. at 2
- PTAB / AIA Trials › Other PTAB motions (exclude, strike, seal, additional discovery, rehearing)Granted
“Based on the record before us, we determine that it is appropriate to terminate this inter partes review both as to petitioner WMS and patent owner MGT without rendering a final written decision. See 35 U.S.C. § 317(a); 37 C.F.R. § 42.72.” slip op. at 3
NonePatents in suitUS 7,892,088
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.