This morning, the Federal Circuit released one nonprecedential opinion and two nonprecedential orders. The opinion comes in an appeal from a decision of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, which found claims not unpatentable. Notably, Judge Dyk dissented. One of the orders denies a petition for a writ of mandamus seeking to order the Patent and Trademark Office to reconsider a petition for inter partes review without relying on consideration of “settled expectations.” The other order is a dismissal. Here is the introduction to the opinion and the order denying the petition along with a link to the dismissal.
Tesla, Inc. v. Charge Fusion Technologies, LLC (Nonprecedential)
Tesla, Inc. (Tesla) appeals a final written decision from the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (Board) finding that Tesla did not prove that claims 1–10 (Challenged Claims) of U.S. Patent No. 10,998,753 (’753 patent) are unpatentable. Because we agree with the Board that the Charging Control Limitation is performed by a processor executing instructions and not a person manually initiating the charging, we affirm.
Judge Dyk, dissenting.
Contrary to the majority, I think that U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2008/0243331 (“Kato”) discloses the Charging Control limitation under the correct construction of claim 1 of U.S. Patent No. 10,998,753 (“’753 patent”).
In re Kahoot! AS (Nonprecedential Order)
The Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office denied Kahoot! AS’s petition for inter partes review (“IPR”) of Interstellar Inc.’s patent. In particular, the Director reasoned that the “patent has been in force for over six years, creating strong settled expectations,” and Kahoot! had failed to show IPR would be “an appropriate use of [Patent Trial and Appeal] Board resources under these circumstances.” Appx287. Kahoot! now petitions for a writ of mandamus directing the PTO to vacate and reconsider without relying on “settled expectations.” Amici move for leave to file briefs in support, and the Director and Interstellar oppose the petition.