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  • PTAB · Apr 20, 2016 · CBM2015-00174 · APJ Jeffrey W Abraham · CBM · Rehearing

    The Board denied Motorola Mobility LLC’s rehearing request and left in place its denial of institution because the petition did not establish that the patent qualifies as a covered business method patent.

    RulingsRehearing decision
    • RehearingRehearing, deniedDenied

      “We are unpersuaded that we overlooked or misapprehended Petitioner’s argument. To the contrary, as stated explicitly at pages 6–7 of our Decision, we acknowledged expressly Petitioner’s arguments on pages 2–8 of the Petition, and, in evaluating those arguments, determined that Petitioner’s contentions based on the Specification do not show how the ’144 patent “claims a method or corresponding apparatus for performing data processing or other operations used in the practice, administration, or management of a financial product or service” or claims “activities that are financial in nature, incidental to a financial activity or complementary to a financial activity.” Id. at 12. In any case, we have reconsidered Petitioner’s arguments anew, but, nevertheless, determine that our previous analysis of and disagreement with Petitioner’s argument, as articulated on pages 10–13 of the Decision, is still correct.” slip op. at 3

    None
    Patents in suitUS 7,810,144
  • PTAB · Feb 9, 2016 · CBM2015-00174 · APJ Jeffrey W Abraham · CBM · Institution

    The Board denied institution because the petitioner did not show that the ’144 patent qualifies as a covered business method patent.

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

      “2. Analysis Under § 18(a)(1)(E) of the AIA, the Board may institute a transitional proceeding only for a patent that is a CBM patent. Section 18(d)(1) of the AIA defines the term “covered business method patent” to mean “a patent that claims a method or corresponding apparatus for performing data processing or other operations used in the practice, administration, or management of a financial product or service, except that the term does not include patents for technological inventions.” For purposes of determining whether a patent is eligible for a covered business method patent review, the focus is on what the patent claims. See 37 C.F.R. § 42.301(a), definition of CBM patent; see also 77 Fed. Reg. 48,734, 48,736 (Aug. 14, 2012), Response to Comments on Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, response to comment 8. A patent need have only one claim directed to a covered business method to be eligible for review. See Transitional Program for Covered Business Method Patents—Definitions of Covered Business Method Patent and Technological Invention; Final Rule, 77 Fed. Reg. at 48,736.” slip op. at 9

    • BurdenDecided for patent owner

      “To that end, Petitioner does not explain adequately, and we are unable to discern, how any of the independent or dependent claims of the ’144 patent recite a method or apparatus “for performing data processing or other operations used in the practice, administration, or management of a financial product or service.” On their face, the claims of the ’144 patent are directed to a general method or corresponding apparatus for transferring files from a first device to a second device, and we are unable to identify specifically any claim terms that could be considered “financial in nature.” In view of this, we agree with Patent Owner that the claims, at least facially, relate to “technologies common in business environments that have no particular relation to the financial services sector.” Prelim. Resp. 10.” slip op. at 10

    Discretionary denial
    Patents in suitUS 7,810,144
  • PTAB · Jan 20, 2016 · CBM2015-00154 · APJ Hyun J Jung · CBM · Institution

    The Board denied institution because the petition did not show that claims 1–34, 38, 39, and 45–77 were more likely than not ineligible under § 101.

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

      “Petitioner fails to provide a credible analysis considering the elements of the challenged claims “individually and ‘as an ordered combination”’ to determine whether the additional elements transform the nature of the challenged claims into a patent-eligible application in accordance with the second step of the Alice analysis. The Petition fails to provide a credible and sufficient explanation as to whether an element or combination of elements is sufficient to ensure that the ’918 patent in practice amounts to significantly more than a patent upon the ineligible concept itself. The Petition, instead, asserts cursory and conclusory arguments with no or insufficient evidence that the additional claim elements are well known or recite generic structure. See Pet. 31–80. Petitioner’s failure to do a full analysis under Alice constitutes a breach of 37 C.F.R. § 42.304(b)(4), as well as 35 U.S.C. § 322(a)(3), which requires identifying the grounds “with particularity.”” slip op. at 7

    • Patent Eligibility (§101) › Alice/Mayo step two — inventive conceptStep2 no inventive conceptNot shown unpatentable

      “Petitioner fails to provide a credible analysis considering the elements of the challenged claims “individually and ‘as an ordered combination”’ to determine whether the additional elements transform the nature of the challenged claims into a patent-eligible application in accordance with the second step of the Alice analysis. The Petition fails to provide a credible and sufficient explanation as to whether an element or combination of elements is sufficient to ensure that the ’918 patent in practice amounts to significantly more than a patent upon the ineligible concept itself. The Petition, instead, asserts cursory and conclusory arguments with no or insufficient evidence that the additional claim elements are well known or recite generic structure. See Pet. 31–80. Petitioner’s failure to do a full analysis under Alice constitutes a breach of 37 C.F.R. § 42.304(b)(4), as well as 35 U.S.C. § 322(a)(3), which requires identifying the grounds “with particularity.”” slip op. at 7

    § 101 eligibilitycites Alice · Mayo · Bilski
    Patents in suitUS 5,816,918
  • PTAB · Dec 30, 2015 · CBM2015-00162 · APJ Timothy J Goodson · CBM · Institution

    The Board denied institution on all challenged claims because the Petition did not establish that the ’246 patent qualifies as a covered business method patent.

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

      “We have jurisdiction under 35 U.S.C. § 324. Pursuant to 35 U.S.C. § 324(a), the Director may not authorize a covered business method patent review unless the information in the petition, if unrebutted, “would demonstrate that it is more likely than not that at least 1 of the claims challenged in the petition is unpatentable.” As explained below, we do not institute a covered business method patent review because the Petition does not establish that the ’246 patent qualifies as a covered business method patent.” slip op. at 2

    • Novelty / Anticipation (§102) › Prior-art status of a reference › Printed publication / public accessibilityPrinted publication not establishedNot shown unpatentable

      “remains deficient. The Petition relies on the Oracle Pro*C reference as disclosing the script template limitations of the independent claims, but as Patent Owner points out, the Petition does not present evidence establishing that Oracle Pro*C qualifies as a prior art printed publication. See Pet. 32– 34; Prelim. Resp. 50–53. Petitioner asserts that Oracle Pro*C “was published in 2002” but does not point to any specific evidence of its publication or public availability in 2002. Id. at 33. If Petitioner’s assertion is based on the “March 2002” statement that appears on the cover of the Oracle Pro*C reference, that statement is hearsay, and Petitioner does not argue that any hearsay exception or exclusion applies. See Ex. 1041, 1; see also ServiceNow, Inc. v. Hewlett-Packard Co., Case IPR2015-00716, slip op. at 16 (PTAB Aug. 26, 2015) (Paper 13) (“To the extent that Petitioner relies on the date on the face of each exhibit and the indications of availability of these references for download . . . for the truth of that information, and considering that Petitioner has not established that any hearsay exception or exclusion applies, we agree [that the statements are inadmissible hearsay].”). Petitioner also argues, with citation to the testimony of Dr. Smyth, that Oracle Pro*C is a reference used by programmers who develop applications in Oracle database environments. Pet. 33 (citing Ex. 1030 ¶ 57). However, neither the Petition nor Dr. Smyth explains how or when the specific Programmer’s Guide, Release 9.2 that Petitioner relies on as the Oracle Pro*C reference (Ex. 1041) was made available to skilled artisans. Because the Petition does not establish that Oracle Pro*C qualifies as prior art, Section VIII.B. of the Petition does not remedy the deficient showing in Section III.D. of the Petition on the first consideration of the technological” slip op. at 11

    § 102 anticipationDiscretionary denial
    Patents in suitUS 8,214,246

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