Today, the Federal Circuit released a nonprecedential opinion in a patent case appealed from the Patent and Trademark Office. The opinion discusses why the court affirmed the invalidation of numerous claims of three patents for obviousness. The court also released a summary affirmance under Federal Circuit Rule 36 and a nonprecedential order dismissing an appeal. Here is the introduction to the opinion and links to the summary affirmance and dismissal.
Universal Electronics, Inc. v. Roku, Inc. (Nonprecedential Opinion)
This is a consolidated appeal of three Inter Partes Review (“IPR”) petitions filed by Roku, Inc., for three patents derived from the same parent application and owned by Universal Electronics, Inc. (“UEI”). The Patent Trial and Appeal Board (“Board”) held that claims 1–4, 6, 8, 9, and 22–25 of U.S. Patent No. 7,589,642 (“the ’642 patent”); claims 2–5, 7–13, and 15 of U.S. Patent No. 8,004,389 (“the ’389 patent”); and claims 1–5 of U.S. Patent No. 9,911,325 (“the ’325 patent”) are unpatentable on the ground of obviousness. The Board upheld challenged claim 14 of the ’389 and claim 7 of the ’325 patent; Roku does not cross-appeal those rulings.
For the reasons we discuss, we affirm the Board’s decisions in all three IPRs.