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  • PTAB · Jun 12, 2025 · IPR2025-00089 · APJ Michael R Zecher · IPR · Institution

    The Board denied institution because Nuvei did not show a reasonable likelihood that claims 1–27 would have been obvious over either asserted combination.

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

      “providing” negative limitation of independent claim 1, and the similar negative limitations of independent claims 8, 15, 23, and 25. Accordingly, Nuvei has not shown a reasonable likelihood that it would prevail on its assertions that the subject matter of independent claims 1, 8, 15, 23, and 25 would have been obvious over the combined teachings of Stringfellow and Kloster.” slip op. at 25

    • Skill levelSkill level petitioner adoptedDecided for petitioner

      “the art “would have had at least (1) an undergraduate degree in electrical engineering, computer engineering, computer science, or comparable field of study, and (2) at least two years’ experience working with and programming networked computer systems.” Pet. 9 (citing Ex. 1005 ¶ 36). Nuvei also argues that “[a]dditional education might substitute for some experience, and vice versa.” Id. In the Preliminary Response, Autoscribe does not address the level of skill in the art. See Prelim. Resp. Accordingly, for purposes of this Decision, we adopt Nuvei’s proposed assessment of the level of ordinary skill in the art because it is consistent with both the ’621 patent and the asserted prior art, and it is supported by the testimony of Dr. Almeroth.” slip op. at 13

    • Expert testimonyPetitioner expert discountedDecided for patent owner

      “The supporting testimony from Nuvei’s declarant, Dr. Almeroth, on these issues fare no better. Dr. Almeroth provides no additional explanation beyond the arguments and evidence presented in the Petition to support Nuvei’s assertion that Kloster does not provide the payment data token to the payer during its token retrieval functions. See Ex. 1005 ¶ 100.” slip op. at 24

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

      “argument that Kloster does not teach the “without providing” negative limitation required by each independent claim. Nuvei appears to contend that Kloster teaches this limitation in two different ways—namely, through either a “call back URL” or “API calls by the merchant.” Pet. 50–51 (emphasis omitted) (quoting Ex. 1008 ¶¶ 15, 23) (citing Ex. 1008 ¶ 24). We address Nuvei’s contentions in turn.” slip op. at 21

    § 103 obviousnesscites KSR · Graham
    Patents in suitUS 11,620,621
  • PTAB · May 5, 2025 · IPR2025-00095 · APJ Michael R Zecher · IPR · Institution

    The Board denied institution because Orca disclaimed all challenged claims 1–18, so no trial could be instituted on them.

    RulingsInstitution decision
    • Adverse judgmentAdverse judgmentOther

      “Based on our review of Exhibit 2002 and the USPTO’s public records, we conclude that a disclaimer of claims 1–18 of the ’855 patent under 35 U.S.C. § 253(a) has been recorded in the Office as of April 24, 2025. Ex. 2002. Because we cannot institute an IPR based on disclaimed claims and all of the challenged claims of the ’855 patent have been disclaimed, no trial will be instituted. See Gen. Elec. Co. v. United Techs. Corp., IPR2017-00491, Paper 9 (PTAB July 6, 2017) (precedential) (Decision” slip op. at 3

    None
    Patents in suitUS 11,637,855
  • PTAB · May 5, 2025 · IPR2025-00093 · APJ Michael R Zecher · IPR · Institution

    The Board denied institution because Orca disclaimed all challenged claims 1–20, leaving no claims on which to institute IPR.

    RulingsInstitution decision
    • Adverse judgmentAdverse judgmentOther

      “Based on our review of Exhibit 2002 and the USPTO’s public records, we conclude that a disclaimer of claims 1–20 of the ’257 patent under 35 U.S.C. § 253(a) has been recorded in the Office as of April 24, 2025. Ex. 2002. Because we cannot institute an IPR based on disclaimed claims and all of the challenged claims of the ’257 patent have been disclaimed, no trial will be instituted. See Gen. Elec. Co. v. United Techs. Corp., IPR2017-00491, Paper 9 (PTAB July 6, 2017) (precedential) (Decision” slip op. at 3

    None
    Patents in suitUS 11,582,257
  • PTAB · May 5, 2025 · IPR2025-00092 · APJ Garth D Baer · IPR · Institution

    The Board denied institution because Orca disclaimed all challenged claims 1–19 before institution.

    RulingsInstitution decision
    • Adverse judgmentAdverse judgmentOther

      “Under 37 C.F.R. § 42.107(e), “[t]he patent owner may file a statutory disclaimer under 35 U.S.C. 253(a) in compliance with § 1.321(a) of this chapter, disclaiming one or more claims in the patent” and, if the statutory disclaimer is filed properly, “[n]o [IPR] will be instituted based on disclaimed claims.” A statutory disclaimer is “considered as part of the original patent” as of the date on which it is “recorded” in the USPTO. 35 U.S.C. § 253(a). “A statutory disclaimer under 35 U.S.C. § 253 has the effect of canceling the claims from the patent and the patent is viewed as though the disclaimed claims had never existed in the patent.” Guinn v. Kopf, 96 F.3d 1419, 1422 (Fed. Cir. 1996); see also Raytheon Techs. Corp. v. General Elec. Co., 993 F.3d 1374, n.4 (Fed. Cir. 2021) (“Disclaimed claims are treated as if they never existed.”)” slip op. at 2

    Discretionary denial
    Patents in suitUS 11,516,231
  • PTAB · Feb 13, 2025 · IPR2024-01114 · APJ Juliet Mitchell Dirba · IPR · Institution

    The Board denied institution of IPR challenging claims 2, 27–30, 32–36, 38, 40, 42–44, 46, 47, 52, 54, 57, and 59, exercising discretion because this was the fourth-ranked parallel petition.

    RulingsInstitution decision
    • Parallel petitionsInstitution denied discretionary otherDenied

      “petition is warranted given the number of claims at issue. See Trial Practice Guide 59 (identifying situations where “two petitions . . . may be needed”). Patent Owner has asserted 166 claims in the co-pending district court litigation, and Petitioner challenges 91 unique claims in these petitions. See Ranking Notice 2; Ranking Response 2. Also, the vast majority of the challenged claims are asserted in litigation. See Ranking Response 2; Ex. 2004, 3. As a result, we agree that this is the type of “rare” situation where multiple parallel petitions are necessary. Petitioner’s primary argument is that seven petitions were required because the common sections needed to be repeated in each petition, which left few words for arguments directed to new claims (given word count limits). See Ranking Notice 2–3. But this argument is premised on an assumption that these common sections “require[d] approximately 8,350 words” (id. at 3), and Petitioner has not persuasively shown that so many words were actually required for these sections. Petitioner includes no explanation or justification of the length of the sections, but instead, it simply assumes that the words used were required. Having reviewed the analysis in those sections, we do not agree. In other words, although we agree that the common sections needed to be repeated in each petition (and that this reduced the number of words available for other analysis), we are not persuaded that the common sections required approximately 8,350 words. A petitioner is certainly entitled to allocate its words as it sees fit, and we typically have no reason to evaluate those strategic decisions; however, we agree with Patent Owner (see Ranking Response 3) that Petitioner cannot justify a large number of petitions by claiming that it needed additional words for its analysis (given the Board’s word count limits) unless Petitioner’s analysis was concise. 10 A petitioner is not entitled to an unlimited number of petitions (see Trial Practice Guide 59–61); instead, we determine whether the circumstances justify additional petitions (see id. at 59–60). This approach conforms with the rationale behind imposing a word count limit on petitions. See id. at 39 (discussing the reasons for establishing word count limits and urging parties to present “concise, well-organized, easy-to-follow arguments supported by readily identifiable evidence of record.”). i.e., the analysis of claim 2, the summary of the ’754 patent and prior art, the articulation of the level of skill in the art and claim construction, and the other preliminary comments—and we are not persuaded that they are sufficiently concise to support Petitioner’s argument. Claim 2 is only fifteen lines long, and its technology is relatively simple, yet Petitioner’s analysis of this claim stretches for seventeen pages. See Pet. 24–41. Petitioner provides no general information about the technology and submits that no claims need to be construed (id. at 7), yet Petitioner provides a five-page summary of the ’754 patent and its prosecution history (see id. at 2–6). Also, Petitioner provides a twelve-page summary of Ahn and Chaudhri (see id. at 7–19), despite the fact that neither reference is particularly long. Indeed, as Patent Owner notes, Petitioner was able to remove nearly 1,000 words from these common sections in at least one of the petitions. See Ranking Response 3–4. Because Petitioner’s analysis in the common sections does not appear to be concise, we are not persuaded that Petitioner’s use of approximately 8,350 words in those sections justifies the large number of petitions.” slip op. at 11

    Discretionary denial
    Patents in suitUS 10,656,754
  • PTAB · Feb 13, 2025 · IPR2024-01086 · APJ Juliet Mitchell Dirba · IPR · Institution

    The Board denied institution of review of claims 2, 8, 10, 16, 24, 26, and 224 because this petition ranked last among seven parallel petitions.

    RulingsInstitution decision
    • Parallel petitionsInstitution denied discretionary otherDenied

      “Petitioner’s primary argument is that seven petitions were required because the common sections needed to be repeated in each petition, which left few words for arguments directed to new claims (given word count limits). See Ranking Notice 2–3. But this argument is premised on an assumption that these common sections “require[d] approximately 8,350 words” (id. at 3), and Petitioner has not persuasively shown that so many words were actually required for these sections. Petitioner includes no explanation or justification of the length of the sections, but instead, it simply assumes that the words used were required. Having reviewed the analysis in those sections, we do not agree. In other words, although we agree that the common sections needed to be repeated in each petition (and that this reduced the number of words available for other analysis), we are not persuaded that the common sections required approximately 8,350 words. A petitioner is certainly entitled to allocate its words as it sees fit, and we typically have no reason to evaluate those strategic decisions; however, we agree with Patent Owner (see Ranking Response 3) that Petitioner cannot justify a large number of petitions by claiming that it needed additional words for its analysis (given the Board’s word count limits) unless Petitioner’s analysis was concise.” slip op. at 12

    Discretionary denial
    Patents in suitUS 10,656,754
  • PTAB · Feb 13, 2025 · IPR2024-01118 · APJ Nathan A Engels · IPR · Institution

    The Board denied institution of IPR2024-01118, finding seven parallel petitions unjustified and exercising discretion to deny this sixth-ranked petition.

    RulingsInstitution decision
    • Parallel petitionsInstitution denied

      “Petitioner’s primary argument is that seven petitions were required because the common sections needed to be repeated in each petition, which left few words for arguments directed to new claims (given word count limits). See Ranking Notice 2–3. But this argument is premised on an assumption that these common sections “require[d] approximately 8,350 words” (id. at 3), and Petitioner has not persuasively shown that so many words were actually required for these sections. Petitioner includes no explanation or justification of the length of the sections, but instead, it simply assumes that the words used were required. Having reviewed the analysis in those sections, we do not agree. In other words, although we agree that the common sections needed to be repeated in each petition (and that this reduced the number of words available for other analysis), we are not persuaded that the common sections required approximately 8,350 words. A petitioner is certainly entitled to allocate its words as it sees fit, and we typically have no reason to evaluate those strategic decisions; however, we agree with Patent Owner (see Ranking Response 3) that Petitioner cannot 12 A petitioner is not entitled to an unlimited number of petitions (see Trial Practice Guide 59–61); instead, we determine whether the circumstances justify additional petitions (see id. at 59–60). This approach conforms with the rationale behind imposing a word count limit on petitions. See id. at 39 (discussing the reasons for establishing word count limits and urging parties to present “concise, well-organized, easy-to-follow arguments supported by readily identifiable evidence of record.”). words for its analysis (given the Board’s word count limits) unless Petitioner’s analysis was concise. As a consequence, we reviewed the content of the common sections— i.e., the analysis of claim 2, the summary of the ’754 patent and prior art, the articulation of the level of skill in the art and claim construction, and the other preliminary comments—and we are not persuaded that they are sufficiently concise to support Petitioner’s argument. Claim 2 is only fifteen lines long, and its technology is relatively simple, yet Petitioner’s analysis of this claim stretches for seventeen pages. See Pet. 26–43. Petitioner provides no general information about the technology and submits that no claims need to be construed (id. at 8–9), yet Petitioner provides a six-page summary of the ’754 patent and its prosecution history (see id. at 3–8). Also, Petitioner provides a twelve-page summary of Ahn and Chaudhri (see id. at 9–21), despite the fact that neither reference is particularly long. Indeed, as Patent Owner notes, Petitioner was able to remove nearly 1,000 words from these common sections in at least one of the petitions. See Ranking Response 3–4. Because Petitioner’s analysis in the common sections does not appear to be concise, we are not persuaded that Petitioner’s use of approximately 8,350 words in those sections justifies the large number of petitions.” slip op. at 12

    Discretionary denial
    Patents in suitUS 10,656,754
  • PTAB · Feb 13, 2025 · IPR2024-01117 · APJ Sharon Fenick · IPR · Institution

    The Board discretionarily denied institution because this petition ranked fifth among seven parallel petitions challenging the patent.

    RulingsInstitution decision
    • Parallel petitionsInstitution denied discretionary otherInstitution denied

      “petition is warranted given the number of claims at issue. See Trial Practice Guide 59 (identifying situations where “two petitions . . . may be needed”). Patent Owner has asserted 166 claims in the co-pending district court litigation, and Petitioner challenges 91 unique claims in these petitions. See Ranking Notice 2; Ranking Response 2. Also, the vast majority of the challenged claims are asserted in litigation. See Ranking Response 2; Ex. 2004, 3. As a result, we agree that this is the type of “rare” situation where multiple parallel petitions are necessary. Petitioner’s primary argument is that seven petitions were required because the common sections needed to be repeated in each petition, which left few words for arguments directed to new claims (given word count limits). See Ranking Notice 2–3. But this argument is premised on an assumption that these common sections “require[d] approximately 8,350 words” (id. at 3), and Petitioner has not persuasively shown that so many words were actually required for these sections. Petitioner includes no explanation or justification of the length of the sections, but instead, it simply assumes that the words used were required. Having reviewed the analysis in those sections, we do not agree. In other words, although we agree that the common sections needed to be repeated in each petition (and that this reduced the number of words available for other analysis), we are not persuaded that the common sections required approximately 8,350 words. A petitioner is certainly entitled to allocate its words as it sees fit, and we typically have no reason to evaluate those strategic decisions; however, we agree with Patent Owner (see Ranking Response 3) that Petitioner cannot justify a large number of petitions by claiming that it needed additional words for its analysis (given the Board’s word count limits) unless Petitioner’s analysis was concise.” slip op. at 11

    Discretionary denial
    Patents in suitUS 10,656,754
  • PTAB · Feb 11, 2025 · IPR2024-01143 · APJ St John Courtenay III · IPR · Institution

    The Board denied institution because Petitioner did not show a reasonable likelihood that claims 1–8 were unpatentable under any of its anticipation or obviousness grounds.

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

      “presented in the petition . . . and any response . . . shows that there is a reasonable likelihood that the petitioner would prevail with respect to at least 1 of the claims challenged in the petition.” 35 U.S.C. § 314(a) (2024).” slip op. at 2

    • PTAB / AIA Trials › Discretionary denial › Fintiv (parallel litigation)Not reached

      “Verizon Wireless, Ericsson Inc., and Nokia of America Corporation (collectively, “Petitioner”) filed a Petition (Paper 1, “Pet.”) requesting an inter partes review of claims 1–8 (“challenged claims”) of U.S. Patent No. 7,664,059 B2 (Ex. 1001, “the ’059 patent”). Innovative Sonic Limited (“Patent Owner”) filed a Preliminary Response (Paper 12, “Prelim. Resp.”). With our authorization, Petitioner filed a Preliminary Reply (Paper 13, “Prelim. Reply”) and Patent Owner filed a Preliminary Sur-reply (Paper 14, “Prelim. Sur-reply”), each of which is narrowly tailored to address Petitioner’s stipulation provided in response to Patent Owner’s arguments for discretionary denial under Apple Inc. v. Fintiv, Inc., IPR2020-00019, Paper 11 (PTAB Mar. 20, 2020) (Order Authorizing Supplemental Briefing on Discretionary Denial) (precedential), and the resulting impact of that stipulation.1” slip op. at 2

    • Novelty / Anticipation (§102) › Anticipation standard (single reference, every element)Not shown unpatentableNot shown unpatentable

      “the “[p]etition equates [3GPP-4.60-v860-Specification’s] variables ‘V(A)’ and ‘V(S)’ with the ’059 [p]atent specification’s ‘VT(A)’ and ‘VT(S)’, instead of mapping [3GPP-4.60-v860-Specification’s] variables to the claim language.” Prelim. Resp. 21-22 (citing Pet. 24–25 (citing Ex. 1002 ¶ 81)) (emphasis added). As noted above, anticipation of a patent claim requires a finding that the claim at issue “reads on” a prior art reference. See Atlas Powder, 190 F.3d at 1346. This requires Petitioner to read or “map” each limitation of claim 1 to the corresponding feature found in the 3GPP-4.60- v860-Specification. Petitioner has not done so here.” slip op. at 19

    • Obviousness (§103) › Motivation to combine / reasonable expectation of successNot shown unpatentableMotivation not foundNot shown unpatentable

      “As an initial matter, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit guides that, “[e]ven when obviousness is based on a single prior art reference, there must be a showing of a suggestion or motivation to modify the teachings of that reference.” In re Kotzab, 217 F.3d 1365, 1370 (Fed. Cir. 2000). But here, we note the evidence relied upon to support Petitioner’s proposed motivation to modify the 3GPP-4.60-v860- Specification is found in paragraphs 98–100 of Dr. Hass’s declaration (Ex. 1002), which merely repeat the identical language from pages 33–35 of the Petition. We thus find this declaration evidence unpersuasive because it is conclusory, and it does not set forth a suggestion or motivation to modify the 3GPP-4.60-v860-Specification. Ex. 1002 ¶¶ 98–100.” slip op. at 27

    Claim construction§ 102 anticipation§ 103 obviousnessDiscretionary denialcites Phillips · KSR · Graham
    Patents in suitUS 7,664,059
  • PTAB · Feb 4, 2025 · IPR2024-01144 · APJ Michael R Zecher · IPR · Institution

    The Board denied institution because AT&T failed to show a reasonable likelihood that claims 1–22 were obvious over either Nokia and the 3GPP-Standard or Ericsson and the 3GPP-Standard.

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

      “§ 42.4(a), we may not institute an IPR unless the information presented in the Petition and any responses thereto shows “there is a reasonable likelihood that the petitioner would prevail with respect to at least 1 of the claims challenged in the petition.” 35 U.S.C. § 314(a). Taking into account Innovative Sonic’s Preliminary Response, AT&T’s Preliminary Reply, and Innovative Sonic’s Preliminary Sur-reply, we conclude that the information 1 We do not reach whether we should exercise our discretion to deny the Petition under Fintiv because, as we explain below, we deny the Petition based on the merits. See infra Sections II.B.5 and II.C.1. presented in the Petition does not establish that there is a reasonable likelihood that AT&T would prevail in demonstrating at least one of claims 1–22 of the ’489 patent is unpatentable. We, therefore, deny AT&T’s Petition.” slip op. at 2

    • Skill levelSkill level petitioner adoptedOther

      “Relying on the testimony of Dr. Hansen, AT&T argues the following: [a]s of the earliest claimed priority date, a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the alleged invention of the ’489 patent . . . would have had a [Bachelor of Science] in Electrical Engineering or a related field with at least three years of experience designing, developing, and/or testing telecommunication systems. A [person of ordinary skill in the art] would also have familiarity with the wireless standards and well-known protocols for accessing wireless networks. More education may supplement practical experience or vice versa. Pet. 14 (citing Ex. 1002 ¶ 368). In the Preliminary Response, Innovative Sonic does not address AT&T’s assessment of the level of skill in the art. See Prelim. Resp. For purposes of this Decision, we adopt AT&T’s uncontested assessment of the level of skill in the art because it is consistent with the ’489 patent and the asserted prior art.” slip op. at 13

    • Expert testimonyPetitioner expert discountedDecided for patent owner

      “issue fares no better. With one exception, Dr. Hansen, relies on the same disclosures of the Update for 3GPP TS 36.331 v.9.4.0 to support his testimony, which, as we explain above, does not account for the plain language of the disputed limitation. Compare Pet. 26–27, 43, with Ex. 1002 ¶¶ 87–90. In addition, Dr. Hansen testifies that a person of ordinary skill in the art would have understood that “the E-UTRAN configuring the UE with one or more SCells would necessarily include the configuring of at least one SCell by a source eNB to a UE.” Ex. 1002 ¶ 91 (emphasis added). But neither AT&T nor Dr. Hansen establish inherency in its obviousness analysis. See PAR Pharm., Inc. v TWI Pharms., Inc., 773 F.3d 1186, 1194– 95 (Fed Cir. 2014) (recognizing that “inherency may supply a missing claim limitation in an obviousness analysis,” but limiting the doctrine of inherency “only when the limitation at issue is the ‘natural result’ of the combination of prior art elements” (quoting In re Oelrich, 666 F.2d 578, 581 (C.C.P.A. 1981)). Apart from the conclusory assertion above, Dr. Hansen does not identify sufficient evidentiary support demonstrating that the requirement identically recited in each of independent claims 1 and 12 of “configuring at least one SCell by a source eNB to a User Equipment (UE)” would have been the “natural result” flowing from the Update for 3GPP TS 36.331 v.9.4.0’s disclosure of the E-UTRAN configuring the UE with at least one SCell. PAR Pharm., 773 F.3d at 1195. Accordingly, we do not credit Dr. Hansen’s testimony that implicates the doctrine of inherency because it not supported by evidence of record.” slip op. at 17

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

      “In the Petition, AT&T contends that “the Board does not need to expressly construe any [claim] terms to resolve the arguments presented herein” because the asserted prior art “discloses all limitations under any plausible construction.” Pet. 14 (citing Ex. 1002 (Declaration of Dr. Christopher Hansen) ¶ 456). In the Preliminary Response, Innovative Sonic “agrees with [AT&T] that no [claim] term needs to be construed.” Prelim. Resp. 4 (citing Pet. 14). For purposes of this Decision, there is no readily discernible controversy between the parties that requires us to construe any claim terms at this time. See Nidec Motor Corp. v. Zhongshan Broad Ocean Motor Co., 868 F.3d 1013, 1017 (Fed. Cir. 2017) (noting that “we need only construe terms ‘that are in controversy, and only 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 10

    Claim construction§ 102 anticipation§ 103 obviousnesscites Phillips · KSR · Graham
    Patents in suitUS 9,237,489
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