This morning the Federal Circuit issued a nonprecedential opinion in an inter partes review proceeding appealed from the Patent Trial and Appeal Board. The Federal Circuit affirmed the PTAB’s rejection of arguments certain claims were obvious in light of the prior art. Here is text from the opinion.
3M Company v. Evergreen Adhesives, Inc. (Nonprecedential)
This case began when Appellant 3M Company (“3M”) filed a petition for inter partes review under 35 U.S.C. § 311, seeking to invalidate claims 1–28 of U.S. Patent No. 7,705,056 (“the ’056 patent”) on the ground of obviousness, pursuant to 35 U.S.C. § 103. The ’056 patent is titled “Aerosol Adhesive and Canister-Based Aerosol Adhesive System.” The Patent Trial and Appeal Board of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (“Board”) agreed with 3M that certain claims of the ’056 patent are invalid as obvious, but the Board determined that 3M had failed to demonstrate that dependent claims 3 and 4 would have been obvious. The Board initially stated its decision in its Final Written Decision, which it sustained in its decision rejecting 3M’s Request for Rehearing. 3M Co. v. Westech Aerosol Corp., No. IPR2018-00576, 2019 WL 3729475 (P.T.A.B. Aug. 7, 2019) (Final Written Decision) (“Final Written Decision”); 3M Co. v. Westech Aerosol Corp., No. IPR2018-00576, 2020 WL 578975 (P.T.A.B. Feb. 4, 2020) (Decision Denying Petitioner’s Request for Rehearing) (“Rehearing Decision”).
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For the foregoing reasons, we affirm the Board’s decision rejecting 3M’s obviousness challenge to dependent claims 3 and 4 of the ’056 patent.