The Federal Circuit Closes The (Face)Book On “Same-Party” IPR Joinder
By Dave Maiorana - The Federal Circuit has definitively ruled on the PTAB’s practice of allowing so-called “same-party” IPR joinder. The court held that an IPR petitioner cannot join itself as a party to an existing IPR and cannot add new arguments or issues from a...
PTAB Focuses on IPR Control to Determine RPI
By Marc Blackman - In three related final written decisions, the PTAB ruled that Bayer Healthcare (“Bayer”) was not a real party in interest (“RPI”) to IPR petitions filed by NOF Corporation, even though Bayer had a business relationship with NOF and stood to benefit...
Wave Goodbye to Waiver: Rehearing Petitions Rejected in Polaris
By Nate Andrews and Matt Johnson - The full Federal Circuit denied rehearing in Polaris. Polaris Innovations Ltd. v. Kingston Technology Company, No. 2018-1831. As previously discussed, both the U.S. government and Polaris requested rehearing after the court applied...
PTAB Oral Argument Procedures in view of COVID-19
By Matt Johnson - On March 13th, the PTAB issued the following notice: Until further notice, examiner and examining attorney interviews, Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) and Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) oral hearings, and other similar in-person...
Don’t Wait Too Late to Assert the § 315(b) Time-Bar
By Cathy Chin Eng and Matt Johnson - In two related decisions, the Federal Circuit held that the Patent Owner, Acoustic Technology, Inc. (“Acoustic”) waived its time-bar challenges under 35 U.S.C. § 315(b) (“Section 315(b)”) by failing to assert them in the IPR...