Fed Circuit reverses PTAB decision for tech company
The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has overruled a decision by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) in three separate patent rulings.
Yesterday, April 11, the court found that the claims of three patents owned by semiconductor tech company ATI Technologies were patentable. ATI was acquired by Advanced Micro Devices in 2006.
The patents in dispute (US numbers 7,742,053; 6,897,871; and 7,327,369) relate to technology for a “shader”. A shader is a computer-implemented system that specifies how a computer-graphics 3D image is generated and presented n a 2D screen.
When filing a patent, the law states the applicant bears the burden of proof to establish prior conception coupled with due diligence. This includes documentary evidence of the development of the technology.
The Federal Circuit found the PTAB had erred in its conclusion that ATI did not demonstrate diligence from the moment of conception of its technology to putting it into practice.
While the PTAB said ATI had “unexplained lapses” in diligence, the Federal Circuit said the evidence provided by ATI established “daily” diligence”.
It also said ATI’s conception pre-dated the prior art.
Additionally, the court said the PTAB erred in its determination that “continuing activity to develop a satisfactory product does not count as diligence”.
“Diligence is not negated if the inventor works on improvements and evaluates alternatives while developing an invention,” the court said.
“The PTAB cited no basis for finding that this technology was not being diligently pursued,” it added.
In ATI’s evidence to the court, the patent inventor submitted a 60-page declaration describing his and other inventors’ activities on the project from conception. This was accompanied by “almost 1300 pages” or records showing the work done.
The court said that because the PTAB had erred in holding that diligence had not been shown, the unpatentability decision must also be reversed.
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