- Intel Corporation v. VLSI Technology LLCRehearing deniedPTAB · Feb 19, 2021 · IPR2020-00527 · APJ Kimberly Mcgraw · IPR · Rehearing
The Board denied Intel’s rehearing requests and left in place its § 314(a) denial of institution in both proceedings based on the Fintiv factors.
RulingsRehearing decision- RehearingRehearing, deniedDenied
“decision should be modified. 37 C.F.R. § 42.71(d). “The request must specifically identify all matters the party believes the Board misapprehended or overlooked, and the place where each matter was previously addressed in a motion, an opposition, or a reply.” Id. When rehearing a decision on a petition, we review the decision for an abuse of discretion. 37 C.F.R. § 42.71(c).” slip op. at 2
- PTAB / AIA Trials › Discretionary denial › Fintiv (parallel litigation)Decided for patent owner
“Petitioner has not shown that this change in circumstance warrants modifying (1) the determination that Fintiv factor 4 weighs in favor of exercising discretion to deny institution or (2) the determination, after weighing all factors and taking a holistic view of the relevant circumstances, to exercise discretion to deny institution. Several of the claims challenged in each Petition are still at issue in the parallel proceeding, and the combinations of references asserted by Petitioner in the district court largely overlap with the combinations of references asserted in the Petitions. Petitioner has not identified any differences among the claims that have been dropped and the claims that remain as a reason to modify our Decision. See Fintiv, Paper 11 at 13 (“if a petition involves the same prior art challenges but challenges claims in addition to those that are challenged in the district court, it may still be inefficient to proceed because the district court may resolve validity of enough overlapping claims to resolve key issues in the petition”).” slip op. at 5
Discretionary denialPatents in suitUS 6,633,187 - Intel Corporation v. VLSI Technology LLCRehearing deniedPTAB · Feb 19, 2021 · IPR2020-00526 · APJ Kimberly Mcgraw · IPR · Rehearing
The Board denied Intel’s rehearing requests, leaving institution denied in both proceedings based on its Fintiv analysis of the parallel litigation.
RulingsRehearing decision- RehearingRehearing, deniedDenied
“II. ANALYSIS A party requesting rehearing bears the burden of showing that the decision should be modified. 37 C.F.R. § 42.71(d). “The request must specifically identify all matters the party believes the Board misapprehended or overlooked, and the place where each matter was previously addressed in a motion, an opposition, or a reply.” Id. When rehearing a decision on a petition, we review the decision for an abuse of discretion. 37 C.F.R. § 42.71(c).” slip op. at 2
- PTAB / AIA Trials › Discretionary denial › Fintiv (parallel litigation)Decided for patent owner
“noted that, “[e]ven if Petitioner’s contentions are true, Petitioner has not shown these contentions will avoid adjudication of Intel’s invalidity defenses” in the related Western District of Texas litigation. Dec. Inst. 13. In light of the record at the time, we found that Petitioner’s arguments in connection with Fintiv factor 6 did not weigh against exercising our discretion to deny institution. Id. at 13–15. Accordingly, we maintain our finding that Petitioner’s argument does not weigh against exercising our discretion to deny institution.” slip op. at 4
Discretionary denialPatents in suitUS 6,633,187 - Intel Corporation v. VLSI Technology LLCRehearing deniedPTAB · Feb 11, 2021 · IPR2020-00582 · APJ Bart A Gerstenblith · IPR · Rehearing
The Board denied Intel’s rehearing request and maintained its discretionary denial of institution under Fintiv, despite weighing Factor 6 neutrally.
RulingsRehearing decision- RehearingRehearing, deniedDenied
“II. ANALYSIS A party requesting rehearing bears the burden of showing that the decision should be modified. 37 C.F.R. § 42.71(d). “The request must specifically identify all matters the party believes the Board misapprehended or overlooked, and the place where each matter was previously addressed in a motion, an opposition, or a reply.” Id. When rehearing a decision on a petition, we review the decision for an abuse of discretion. 37 C.F.R. § 42.71(c).” slip op. at 2
- PTAB / AIA Trials › Discretionary denial › Fintiv (parallel litigation)Institution denied fintivInstitution denied
“The change in circumstances regarding the trial date does not persuade us to change our decision to exercise our discretion to deny institution. Even if we were to institute an inter partes review proceeding, the deadline for issuing a final written decision could be no earlier than February 2022. Thus, at this time, it appears likely that trial will occur many months before any final written decision would likely issue in this proceeding. Therefore, we maintain our finding that Fintiv Factor 2” slip op. at 4
Discretionary denialPatents in suitUS 7,292,485 - Netflix, Inc. v. Divx, LLCRehearing deniedPTAB · Dec 2, 2020 · IPR2020-00511 · APJ Bart A Gerstenblith · IPR · Rehearing
The Board denied DivX’s rehearing request, leaving the institution decision in place because the rule remained effective and Dr. McDaniel’s testimony was supported on the record.
RulingsRehearing decision- RehearingRehearing, deniedDenied
“II. ANALYSIS A party requesting rehearing bears the burden of showing that the decision should be modified. 37 C.F.R. § 42.71(d). “The request must specifically identify all matters the party believes the Board misapprehended or overlooked, and the place where each matter was previously addressed in a motion, an opposition, or a reply.” Id. When rehearing a decision on a petition, we review the decision for an abuse of discretion. 37 C.F.R. § 42.71(c).” slip op. at 2
- Expert testimonyPetitioner expert creditedDecided for petitioner
“assertions regarding Dr. McDaniel’s testimony. Dr. McDaniel testified that (a) Chen teaches video data streams, (b) “[a]s was widely known in the art, for example as disclosed by Grab-333,[1] a [person of ordinary skill in the art] would have understood that video data streams were comprised of a series of video frames,” and (c) a person of ordinary skill in the art “would have understood that Chen teaches a plurality of frames of video are encrypted using at least one scrambling key/control word.” Ex. 1003 ¶ 112;” slip op. at 3
NonePatents in suitUS 9,184,920 - PTAB · Jul 9, 2020 · IPR2019-01393 · APJ Ryan H Flax · IPR · Rehearing
The Board denied Patent Owner’s rehearing request, finding no misapprehended or overlooked issue and no abuse of discretion in instituting review of all challenged claims on Grounds 1 and 2.
RulingsRehearing decision- RehearingRehearing, deniedDenied
“II. STANDARD OF REVIEW A party requesting rehearing of a Board decision has the burden to show that the decision should be modified. Pursuant to 37 C.F.R. § 42.71(d), the rehearing request must identify, specifically, all matters the party believes the Board misapprehended or overlooked and the place where each matter was previously addressed in a motion, an opposition, or a reply. When rehearing a decision on a petition, we review the decision for an abuse of discretion. 37 C.F.R. § 42.71(c) (2019). 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. In re Gartside, 203 F.3d 1305, 1315–16 (Fed. Cir. 2000).” slip op. at 3
- PTAB / AIA Trials › Discretionary denial › Fintiv (parallel litigation)Decided for petitioner
“Here, a new and relevant Board decision in Fintiv was entered subsequent to our Denial Decision and during the course of the Board’s consideration of the Petitioner’s Request for Rehearing; a decision that has been designated precedential and is now controlling. Fintiv, Paper 11. The Board has regularly considered intervening case law in reconsidering a decision on institution. See Shenzhen Zhiyi Tech. Co. Ltd. v. iRobot Corp., IPR2017-02061, Paper 11 (PTAB May 1, 2018) (granting a request rehearing when considering the intervening Supreme Court decision in SAS Inst., Inc. v. Iancu, 138 S. Ct. 1348 (2018)); Comcast Cable Comm., LLC v. Realtime Adaptive Streaming LLC, IPR2019-00760, Paper 45 (PTAB Jan. 17, 2020) (granting-in-part patent owner’s motion to terminate an instituted inter partes review in view of the intervening precedential decision in GoPro, Inc. v. 360Heros, Inc., IPR2018-01754, Paper 38 (PTAB Aug. 23, 2019) (precedential)). Foundationally, “administrative agencies possess inherent authority to reconsider their decisions, subject to certain limitations, regardless of whether they possess explicit statutory authority to do so.”” slip op. at 5
Discretionary denialPatents in suitUS 8,944,740 - Microsoft Corporation v. Ipa Technologies Inc.Rehearing deniedPTAB · Apr 3, 2020 · IPR2019-00840 · APJ Bart A Gerstenblith · IPR · Rehearing
The Board denied Microsoft’s rehearing request, leaving institution denied because it did not show error in the Board’s § 325(d) analysis.
RulingsRehearing decision- RehearingRehearing, deniedDenied
“decision should be modified. 37 C.F.R. § 42.71(d). “The request must specifically identify all matters the party believes the Board misapprehended or overlooked, and the place where each matter was previously addressed in a motion, an opposition, or a reply.” Id. When rehearing a decision on a petition, we review the decision for an abuse of discretion. 37 C.F.R. § 42.71(c).” slip op. at 2
- PTAB / AIA Trials › Discretionary denial › §325(d) same art / argumentsDecided for patent owner
“Petitioner did not argue, in the Petition, that FIPA97 was released as individual parts. Petitioner’s Rehearing Request (page 8) cites to the Petition at page 20 and Exhibit 1054. Page 20 of the Petition, however, contains Petitioner’s argument that FIPA97 was made publicly available as a single document, as discussed above. It does not include any argument or suggestion that FIPA97 was released as individual parts. Additionally, Exhibit 1054 is not cited on page 20 of the Petition in the discussion of FIPA97 nor does it appear that Exhibit 1054 was cited anywhere in the Petition. Thus, because Petitioner did not argue, in the Petition, that FIPA97 was released as individual parts, we could not have overlooked that argument. Petitioner’s contention of error in our determination that FIPA97 was involved during examination of the ’128 patent application is premised upon finding that FIPA97 existed as individual parts. Because Petitioner fails to demonstrate that we overlooked an argument that was not made, we are not persuaded of error.” slip op. at 4
Discretionary denialPatents in suitUS 7,036,128 - Microsoft Corporation v. Ipa Technologies Inc.Rehearing deniedPTAB · Apr 3, 2020 · IPR2019-00838 · APJ Bart A Gerstenblith · IPR · Rehearing
The Board denied Microsoft’s rehearing request, leaving institution denied under § 325(d) because Microsoft did not show the Board overlooked arguments made in the petition.
RulingsRehearing decision- RehearingRehearing, deniedDenied
“II. ANALYSIS A party requesting rehearing bears the burden of showing that the decision should be modified. 37 C.F.R. § 42.71(d). “The request must specifically identify all matters the party believes the Board misapprehended or overlooked, and the place where each matter was previously addressed in a motion, an opposition, or a reply.” Id. When rehearing a decision on a petition, we review the decision for an abuse of discretion. 37 C.F.R. § 42.71(c).” slip op. at 2
- PTAB / AIA Trials › Discretionary denial › §325(d) same art / argumentsInstitution denied 325dDecided for patent owner
“and the prior art relied upon in Petitioner’s challenges to the ’128 patent, Petitioner did not address 35 U.S.C. § 325(d) in the Petition (Paper 1). Instead, Petitioner made two critical representations—(1) that the Examiner of the ’128 patent “did not have FIPA97 before him, or any other FIPA reference for that matter” (Pet. 1) and (2) that despite there being seven “Parts” to FIPA97, “FIPA97 was made publicly available as a single document” and was “developed and published as a single, integrated work.” Pet. 20 (citing Ex. 1055 (FIPA97 Table of Contents for Parts 1–7)); Ex. 1026, 5 (Foundation for Intelligent Physical Agents, “Resolution of Munich meeting”). In the Petition (Paper 1), Petitioner never contended that FIPA97 was published or available as separate and distinct parts, such that access to one part might not mean access to each other part. Rather, Petitioner’s sole statement regarding separate parts was that it filed FIPA97 as seven separate exhibits “due to its size and numbering schedule.” Id. at 20. Accordingly, on the record presented, we agreed with Petitioner’s representation and we found that FIPA97 (Exs. 1006–1012) constitutes a single document, which we then found was involved during examination of the ’128 patent application. Inst. Dec. 15.” slip op. at 3
Discretionary denialPatents in suitUS 7,036,128 - Microsoft Corporation v. Ipa Technologies Inc.Rehearing deniedPTAB · Apr 3, 2020 · IPR2019-00839 · APJ Bart A Gerstenblith · IPR · Rehearing
The Board denied Microsoft's rehearing request, leaving institution denied under § 325(d) because it did not show the Board overlooked arguments about FIPA97 or misweighed the Becton factors.
RulingsRehearing decision- RehearingRehearing, deniedDenied
“II. ANALYSIS A party requesting rehearing bears the burden of showing that the decision should be modified. 37 C.F.R. § 42.71(d). “The request must specifically identify all matters the party believes the Board misapprehended or overlooked, and the place where each matter was previously addressed in a motion, an opposition, or a reply.” Id. When rehearing a decision on a petition, we review the decision for an abuse of discretion. 37 C.F.R. § 42.71(c).” slip op. at 2
- PTAB / AIA Trials › Discretionary denial › §325(d) same art / argumentsInstitution denied 325dDecided for patent owner
“and the prior art relied upon in Petitioner’s challenges to the ’128 patent, Petitioner did not address 35 U.S.C. § 325(d) in the Petition (Paper 1). Instead, Petitioner made two critical representations—(1) that the Examiner of the ’128 patent “did not have FIPA97 before him, or any other FIPA reference for that matter” (Pet. 1) and (2) that despite there being seven “Parts” to FIPA97, “FIPA97 was made publicly available as a single document” and was “developed and published as a single, integrated work.” Pet. 20 (citing Ex. 1055 (FIPA97 Table of Contents for Parts 1–7)); Ex. 1026, 5 (Foundation for Intelligent Physical Agents, “Resolution of Munich meeting”). In the Petition (Paper 1), Petitioner never contended that FIPA97 was published or available as separate and distinct parts, such that access to one part might not mean access to each other part. Rather, Petitioner’s sole statement regarding separate parts was that it filed FIPA97 as seven separate exhibits “due to its size and numbering schedule.” Id. at 20. Accordingly, on the record presented, we agreed with Petitioner’s representation and we found that FIPA97 (Exs. 1006–1012) constitutes a single document, which we then found was involved during examination of the ’128 patent application. Inst. Dec. 15.” slip op. at 3
Discretionary denialPatents in suitUS 7,036,128 - Bedra Inc. / Berkenhoff GmbH et al. v. Ki-Chul SeongRehearing deniedPTAB · Mar 27, 2020 · IPR2018-01415 · APJ Ryan H Flax · IPR · Rehearing
The Board denied the Patent Owner’s rehearing request, leaving in place its final decision that claims 1–13 and 15 were unpatentable as obvious based on Tomalin.
RulingsRehearing decision- RehearingRehearing, deniedDenied
“Final Decision 49. Although Dr. Medlin’s testimony on such issues was rife with equivocation (“probably”), we are not persuaded that what he otherwise testified to is not a certainty, i.e., that the starting materials and processing steps of Tomalin’s Example 1 would necessarily result in an EDM wire with a cracked surface with grains of α, γ, and ε brass materials, as claimed. See supra cites to Final Decision and evidence of record. Patent Owner has presented no arguments or facts in its Request for Rehearing that persuade us that we have misapprehended or overlooked any evidence, or misapplied any law, or that our Final Decision is otherwise incorrect. For the reasons set forth above, Patent Owner’s Request for Rehearing is denied.” slip op. at 9
- Obviousness (§103) › Motivation to combine / reasonable expectation of successNot reached
§ 103 obviousnessPatents in suitUS 8,822,872 - Firstspear, LLC v. Lineweight, LLCRehearing deniedPTAB · Mar 25, 2020 · IPR2019-01170 · APJ Patrick R Scanlon · IPR · Rehearing
The Board denied rehearing and maintained its denial of institution because Petitioner did not show that combining Fegen and Stevens would have made the claimed openings compatible with the asserted properties.
RulingsRehearing decision- RehearingRehearing, deniedDenied
“37 C.F.R. § 42.71(d), which provides: A party dissatisfied with a decision may file a single request for rehearing, without prior authorization from the Board. The burden of showing a decision should be modified lies with the party challenging the decision. The request must specifically identify all matters the party believes the Board misapprehended or overlooked, and the place where each matter was previously addressed in a motion, an opposition, or a reply. We review our Decision under an abuse of discretion standard. 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 the decision represents an unreasonable judgment in weighing relevant factors. Star Fruits S.N.C. v. United States, 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).” slip op. at 2
- PTAB / AIA Trials › Institution threshold (reasonable likelihood / more likely than not)Institution denied meritsInstitution denied
“motivated to adhere Fegen’s exterior garment layer to a substrate in order to provide a substrate material having water-proofing or scent blocking properties as taught by Stevens.” Pet. 31–32 (citing Ex. 1002 ¶ 55; Ex. 1006, 2:1–4, 3:50–53). In addition, the Petition asserts that one of ordinary skill in the art “would understand that the slits in Fegen extend all the way through the exterior layer and the substrate in order to permit attachments to be more easily secured to Fegen’s garment.” Id. at 35 (citing Ex. 1002 ¶ 62; Ex. 1005, Fig. 3). In the Decision, we determined that Petitioner had failed to establish sufficiently that it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine Fegen and Stevens in the manner proposed. Dec. 14–16. In particular, we determined that providing slits or openings in the substrate of the proposed combination of Fegen and Stevens “would defeat, or at least greatly diminish, any water-proofing or scent blocking properties of the substrate.” Id. at 15. Thus, we disagreed with Petitioner’s contention that one of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to add a substrate to Fegen’s garment for the purpose of providing water-proofing or scent blocking properties. Id.” slip op. at 3
- Obviousness (§103) › Motivation to combine / reasonable expectation of successMotivation not foundNot shown unpatentable
“We disagree with this broad assertion because the Petition does not demonstrate sufficiently why providing openings in the substrate, as the claims require, would not have led one of ordinary skill in the art to consider such openings detrimental to the rationale of providing water-proofing or scent blocking properties. Petitioner’s assertion also ignores the fact that the corresponding openings in the substrate would allow sweat and odor to pass through freely, thereby decreasing the effectiveness of water-proofing and scent blocking properties. Although no evidence of record appears to state expressly that openings of the size claimed would allow sweat and odor to pass freely through the substrate, this fact would have been readily apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art. Thus, the Rehearing Request fails to demonstrate that a reasonable fact finder could not have arrived at this fact, such that our determination is supported by substantial evidence. See OSI Pharm., 939 F.3d at 1381–82.” slip op. at 4
- BurdenDecided for patent owner
“Petitioner also argues that “[t]here is no evidence supporting a difference in effectiveness of the water-proofing and scent blocking properties of the substrate whether the substrate is a solid sheet of material or the substrate contains slots or openings in the same location as the exterior layer.” Reh. Req. 3. This argument, however, attempts to improperly shift the burden of persuasion away from Petitioner. “In an [inter partes review], the petitioner has the burden from the onset to show with particularity why the patent it challenges is unpatentable.” Harmonic Inc. v. Avid Tech., Inc., 815 F.3d 1356, 1363 (Fed. Cir. 2016) (citing 35 U.S.C. § 312(a)(3) (requiring inter partes review petitions to identify “with particularity . . . the evidence that supports the grounds for the challenge to each claim”)). The burden of persuasion rests with Petitioner. See Dynamic Drinkware, LLC v. Nat’l Graphics, Inc., 800 F.3d 1375, 1378 (Fed. Cir. 2015) (citing Tech. Licensing Corp. v. Videotek, Inc., 545 F.3d 1316, 1326–27 (Fed. Cir. 2008)) (discussing the burden of proof in inter partes review). Thus, Petitioner has the burden of presenting evidence supporting its assertion that there is no difference in effectiveness of the water-proofing and scent blocking properties of the substrate with or without openings.” slip op. at 5
§ 103 obviousnessPatents in suitUS 9,173,436
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.