- Alliance Laundry Systems, LLC v. Payrange LLCSome claims unpatentablePTAB · Aug 19, 2026 · PGR2025-00027 · APJ George R Hoskins · PGR · Final written decision
Claims 1–6 and 8–20 are unpatentable under § 101; claim 7 was not shown unpatentable.
RulingsFinal written decision- PTAB / AIA Trials › Institution threshold (reasonable likelihood / more likely than not)InstitutedInstituted
“Pet.”) pursuant to 35 U.S.C. §§ 321–329 to institute a post-grant review of U.S. Patent No. 11,966,920 B2 (Ex. 1001, “the ’920 patent”), claims 1–20. We issued an Institution Decision (Paper 12) granting the petitioned review. slip op. at 2
- Skill levelOther
“B. Level of Ordinary Skill in the Art Petitioner contends a person having ordinary skill in the art pertaining” slip op. at 11
- Claim Construction › Intrinsic evidence (Phillips canons) › Plain and ordinary meaning to a POSITAPlain and ordinary meaningDecided for patent owner
“thereby supporting our conclusion that the plain and ordinary meaning of “affordance” in claim 1 refers to an interactive user interface element.” slip op. at 30
- Obviousness (§103) › Graham factors (scope of art, differences, level of skill)Not shown unpatentableNot shown unpatentable
“For the foregoing reasons, we conclude Petitioner’s reliance on Low’s” slip op. at 21
Patent outcomesUS 11,966,920 mixedClaim construction§ 101 eligibility§ 103 obviousnesscites Alice · Mayo · Bilski · Berkheimer · Enfish · Electric Power · KSRPatents in suitUS 11,966,920 - Valve Corporation v. Ironburg Inventions Ltd.Some claims unpatentablePTAB · Sep 22, 2017 · IPR2016-00948 · APJ Phillip J Kauffman · IPR · Final written decision
Claims 1, 6, 13, 14, 16, 17, 19, and 20 are unpatentable: Tosaki anticipates them, and Enright with Tosaki also renders claim 20 obvious.
RulingsFinal written decision- ExcludeMotion to exclude, deniedDenied
“In our Decision to Institute, we explained that a preliminary response cannot serve as an effective objection for two reasons.2 Dec. 4–5 (entered on September 27, 2016). First, objections must be made after institution of trial. See 37 C.F.R. § 42.64(b)(1) (objections are due ten days from institution of trial). Second, an objection and a preliminary response may not be combined into a single document. See 37 C.F.R. § 42.6(a)(3) (prohibiting combined documents).” slip op. at 5
- Strike new argumentNew argument consideredDecided for petitioner
“The Petition fails to address a claimed characteristic of the elongate members (flexibility). See PO Resp. 39–41 (arguing that Enright does not disclose elongate members that are flexible as claimed). This cannot be corrected in Petitioner’s Reply. See Office Patent Trial Practice Guide, 77 Fed. Reg. at 48,767 (Aug. 14, 2012) (a reply may not raise a new issue or belatedly present evidence); 35 U.S.C. § 312 (a)(3) (requiring petitions to identify “with particularity . . . the evidence that supports the grounds for the challenge to each claim”); 37 C.F.R. § 42.104(b)(4) (a petition for inter partes review must identify how the construed claim is unpatentable under the statutory grounds on which the petitioner challenges the claim and must specify where each element of the claim is found in the prior art patents or printed publications relied upon); Belden Inc. v. Berk-Tek LLC, 805 F.3d 1064, 1080 (Fed. Cir. 2015); see also Paper 39, 2 (pointing out that Petitioner is making a new argument).20 Petitioner has not demonstrated by a preponderance of the evidence that claim 1 is unpatentable under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as obvious over Enright and Tosaki. The same is true of claims 2–11, 13, 16, and 17 by virtue of their dependence from claim 1. 20 Petitioner argues that Patent Owner’s contention could not have been addressed earlier because the Board did not explicitly construe this claim limitation. Petitioner’s burden is not alleviated by the lack of a claim construction by the Board.” slip op. at 38
- Expert testimonyPetitioner expert discountedMixed
“In our Institution Decision, we observed that the Petition does not explain persuasively how observations from a UK patent examiner, which presumably are based on UK law and not United States law, are of use in our proceeding. Dec. 4. Petitioner asserts that Mr. Donohoe must be a person of ordinary skill because the level of ordinary skill is low, and because the UK Intellectual Property Office employed Mr. Donohoe to examine the video game controller art. Pet. Reply 16–17. Petitioner chose not to address our concern regarding the distinctions between United States and UK law. Because of those distinctions, Petitioner’s assertions and evidence with regard to Mr. Donohoe are entitled to little or no weight. This shortcoming is not fatal to this ground of unpatentability because, as explained below, the prior art of record is reflective of the level of skill in the art.” slip op. at 39
- Skill levelSkill level patent owner adoptedDecided for patent owner
“Patent Owner contends that the level of skill in the art is relatively low and that “less than a year of experience or other training in controller assembly or tooling is required.” PO Resp. 34; Ex. 2002 ¶ 30 (Patent Owner’s expert opining that the level of skill is “no more than a year of experience or other training in controller assembly or tooling”). Patent Owner bases this level of skill on the education level of the inventor and the type of problems encountered in the art. PO Resp. 35. Regarding the education level of the inventors, Patent Owner provides evidence that the named inventors have degrees in unrelated fields. Id. (citing Ex. 2008, 3; Ex. 2009, 4). Patent Owner asserts the problem solved was that users of conventional game controllers were at risk of hand strain or injury from having to operate many different controls on the front of the controller with only a user’s thumbs. Id. at 35–36 (citing Ex. 2012 ¶ 10; Ex. 1001, 1:33–40, 3:56–61). Petitioner does not contest the education level of the inventors or the problem solved by the ’525 patent. Pet. Reply 15–16. Rather, Petitioner asserts that Patent Owner has taken the illogical position that the qualifications of a person of ordinary skill in the art are maximum levels of experience or training rather than minimums. Id. To the extent that Patent Owner’s assertion suggests that the level of skill may not exceed a year of experience or other training in controller assembly or tooling, we disagree. Patent Owner does not cite, nor are we aware, of any legal precedent supporting the assertion that education and experience levels are maximums that must not be exceeded. Regarding the problem solved by the ’525 patent, the portions cited by” slip op. at 40
Patent outcomesUS 8,641,525 mixedClaim construction§ 102 anticipation§ 103 obviousnesscites KSRPatents in suitUS 8,641,525
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.