Institution Denied For Lack of Sufficient Structure
By Hannah Mehrle and Matt Johnson - The Board declined to institute inter partes review because Petitioner failed to identify adequate corresponding structure in the challenged patent that performed the function of claim limitation that was to be construed under...
Higher Burden of Demonstrating Public Accessibility of a Reference at Final Decision Stage
By Jennifer Chheda and Daniel Sloan - In denying Petitioner Medivis, Inc.’s (“Medivis”) Request for Rehearing of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s (“PTAB”) Final Written Decision (“FWD”) in Medivis, Inc. v. Novarad Corp. inter partes review, the PTAB found that at...
Institution Denial Vacated to Reconsider Prior Art Drawing
By Jen Bachorik and Matt Johnson - On April 5, 2024, Director Vidal vacated and remanded the Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s (PTAB’s) denial of institution of inter partes review (IPR) where the Petitioner relied on a drawing in a prior art patent document to allege...
USPTO Issues Notice of Proposed Rulemaking On Discretionary Denial, Serial and Parallel Petitions, and Settlement
By Matthew Johnson, Carl Kukkonen, Evan C. Jones, and Daniel Sloan - On April 19, 2024, the USPTO issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (the “Notice”) regarding discretionary denial in post-grant proceedings and other issues. The Notice addresses stakeholder...
Forced Cooperation Between Rivals Does Not Create a “Significant Relationship”
By Sarah Geers and Daniel Sloan - Director Vidal recently vacated three discretionary denials of institution after finding that the three petitioners did not have a “significant relationship” with a prior petitioner. American Honda Motor Co., Inc. v. Neo Wireless...