The Patent Trial and Appeal Board today hosted a “Chat with the Chief” webinar to elaborate on the practical effects of its April 26 memo implementing the Supreme Court’s decision in SAS Institute Inc. v. Iancu. Of particular note
Institution decisions
All-or-Nothing: Supreme Court Requires Instituted IPRs to Address All Challenged Claims

The United States Supreme Court in SAS Institute struck down the Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s practice of instituting inter partes review (IPR) on only a subset of claims challenged in the petition. SAS Institute Inc. v Iancu, 584 …
District Court holds that IPR estoppel does not apply to grounds denied institution on the merits

In Verinata Health, Inc. v. Ariosa Diagnostics, Inc., Judge Susan Illston of the Northern District of California held that the IPR estoppel statute, 35 U.S.C. § 315(e), does not apply to invalidity grounds asserted in an IPR petition but…
Federal Circuit rules that it has no jurisdiction to review PTAB’s refusal to institute redundant grounds
In a recent decision affirming the PTAB’s patentability determination in an IPR, the Federal Circuit confirmed that it has no jurisdiction to review the Board’s refusal to institute grounds it deemed to be redundant of instituted grounds. Harmonic, Inc. v. …
New PTAB Rules Take Effect May 2, 2016
The Patent Office has published a final rule with amendments to 37 CFR § 42, et seq., governing IPR, CBM, PGR, and derivation proceedings before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board. The new rules take effect Monday, May 2,…
Federal Circuit holds that grounds denied institution as redundant are not subject to estoppel

In its recent decision in Shaw Industries Group, Inc. v. Automated Creel Systems, Inc., the Federal Circuit held that estoppel does not apply to grounds denied institution on the basis of redundancy. No. 2015-1116 (Fed. Cir. Mar. 23, 2016)…
Federal Circuit weighs in again on reviewability of institution decisions
In a recent case affirming the PTAB’s final decision of invalidity, the Federal Circuit held that it lacks jurisdiction to review whether the Board improperly instituted a CBM Review on a ground not asserted in the petition. SightSound Techs., LLC …
Federal Circuit approves having same PTAB panel make both institution and final decisions in IPR proceedings

In affirming a PTAB ruling that the challenged patent was invalid for obviousness, a split Federal Circuit panel recently held that neither the America Invents Act nor the Constitution precludes the same PTAB panel that made the decision to institute…
Federal Circuit holds that PTAB is not bound by findings made in Institution Decisions

A unanimous Federal Circuit panel recently affirmed the PTAB’s judgment holding that the Petitioner failed to satisfy its burden of proving that the challenged claims of the patent were obvious. TriVascular v. Samuels, No. 15-1631 (Fed. Cir. Feb. 5…
A Prima Facie Case Is Not Required for Institution

In Nestlé Purina Petcare Co. v. Oil-Dri Corp. of America, the PTAB held that the “reasonable likelihood” standard for institution of trial does not require that the Petitioner establish a prima facie case of unpatentability. IPR2015-00737, Paper 16…