It was a slow summer week on the Board with only 23 new petitions—one post grant review and 22 inter partes reviews; in district court, a fairly average 63 new patent filings and 53 terminations rounded out the number. Major streaming companies, including Disney, have been challenged WAG Acquisitions [of Woodsford Litigation Funding] patents before the Board; SharkNinja challenges Bissel patents on vacuum cleaners; and FedEx challenged patents owned by to Raymond Anthony Joao ultra-litigious Beyond Shipping. Apple lost three institutional challenges to one Identity Security LLC (f/k/a Integrated Information Solutions Corporation]. In the district court the volume of litigants is high M4Siz tied with more retailers, including Abercrombie and Fitch, Under Armour, Victoria’s Secret, and J Crew, bringing the total number of defendants to 31; and more semiconductor litigation blossomed, with multiple campaigns filed against Microns and TI alone this week.
The Board Carefully Denied the Second Petition Based on Claims Not Asserted in the Litigation: Iancu-judgment time again: in IPR2022-00150, the Board denied one of two petitions filed on the same day in different claim ranges, in large part because the denied petition challenged claims not currently in litigation. The panel reasoned that, under updated Iancu-era trial practice guidance that only in “rare ‘circumstances'” should “more than one petition be necessary,” and used that to agree with patent owner here that the second set of claims—both challenged a different set of claims—should not be established under the Board’s discretion, regardless of merit.
Note again that the trial practice update guidance in question was posted on the USPTO website in 2019 sua sponteand has not been subject to notice-and-comment or benefited from any significant notice or comment from the public, and is unlikely to have the force and effect of law.
SK Hynix DJ Aggressive NPE Longhorn IP: In perhaps a sign of the times, aggressive licensor Longhorn IP—primarily known for asserting several acquired semiconductor portfolios through various subsidiaries and generally the first to sue as a licensor of Avanci—has- DJ of semiconductor company SK Hynix for a series of alleged “unreasonable demands” in extended licensing discussions with the company. Longhorn—the (relatively) recent creation of Mr. Kahled Fekih-Romdhane and his funding company, Tanit Ventures, Inc.—are accused, in the complaint, of controlling frequent litigants Trenchant Blade Technologies LLC, Lone Star Silicon Innovations LLC, and Hamilcar Ang Barca IP LLC, as listed on Longhorn’s website, as portfolio companies controlled by Mr. Fekih-Romadhane and whose main purpose is to license the semiconductor industry to the acquired portfolios. The complaint seeks non-infringement of at least seven patents, including US 9379079, 7494846, 8669619, 7056821, 8848462, 9147664, and 8086938.
Board Issues Rare Consolidation Request: Is this a sign of things to come? The PTAB has long had, but rarely used, broad powers to consolidate hearings, preferring, in the first decade or so or practice, to largely let IPRs run in parallel. Consolidation—which differs from consolidation in many ways, at least procedurally—gives the Board flexibility to change page and briefing limits and will greatly favor new legislative proposals before Congress.
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