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Tag: PTAB

Jul 26, 2017

The Use of Sovereign Immunity as a Defense in AIA Proceedings

patent law

Recent decisions by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) have given state entities a green light to use sovereign immunity as a defense in Inter Parties Review (IPR) proceedings in certain scenarios.  The first decision from the PTAB, which came earlier this year, resulted in three IPR petitions filed by Covidien LP being dismissed before institution based on sovereign immunity of the patent holder University of Florida Research Foundation Inc. (UFRF) (IPR2016-01274, -01275, and -01276).  The PTAB first found that sovereign immunity was available as a defense to IPRs.  The Board then concluded that, because UFRF was an arm… Read more

Feb 2, 2017

SGR Team Wins Federal Circuit Appeal for Patent Interference

Dictionary: Patent

On Friday, an SGR team cemented a victory on behalf of its client Yang when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled in its favor in an appeal brought by Chan related to a patent interference proceeding (Interference No. 106,025 (the ʼ025 interference)) (2016-1214).  The Court’s ruling affirmed the SGR team’s previous success before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB), which resulted in judgment against Chan and cancellation of a number of claims of Chan’s U.S. Patent No. 8,614,197 (Chan’s ʼ197 patent). The issues on appeal related to (a) whether the PTAB correctly declared an interference-in-fact… Read more