This morning the Federal Circuit issued a nonprecedential opinion in a patent case vacating a Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s determination of obviousness and remanding the case for reconsideration. Here is the introduction to the opinion.
Apple Inc. v. Corephotonics, Ltd. (Nonprecedential)
This is an appeal from the final decision of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board in an inter partes review of U.S. Patent No. 9,568,712. Petitioner Apple Inc. appeals, asking this court to consider a dispute regarding anticipation by an inoperative embodiment, as well as a factual issue regarding motivation to combine. Because we determine that the Board’s finding of no anticipation is correct as a matter of law, we affirm that finding. We also determine that the Board’s finding of no motivation to combine is premised on a clear mathematical error that appears to have tainted its analysis. Thus, we vacate the Board’s determination of nonobviousness and remand for reconsideration.