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30 August 2019PatentsSaman Javed

IPR challenges already subject to civil action will be denied: PTAB

The US Patent Trial and Appeal Board ( PTAB) has designated an earlier decision, in which it denied an inter partes review on the basis that claims of the disputed patent had already been challenged in a civil action, as precedential.

The designation, yesterday August 29, was of a decision in a patent dispute between Cisco Systems and non-practicing entity Chrimar Systems.

Cisco had asked the board to review several claims of one of Chrimar’s patents (US number  8,902,760 B2) which relates to a system for managing, tracking and identifying remotely located electronic equipment.

According to Chrimar, one of the difficulties in managing a computerised office environment is keeping track of a company’s electronic assets, which is solved by the invention in the patent.

Cisco Systems first took civil action against Chrimar Systems over the ‘760 patent in 2015, following a patent infringement complaint by the NPE.

In its complaint it said Chrimar was conducting an “anticompetitive scheme” by enforcing the patent against multiple companies.

In its decision, issued January 31, the PTAB said an inter partes review “may not be instituted if, before the date on which the petition for such review is filed, the petitioner filed a civil action challenging the validity of a claim of the patent.”

Finding that the ‘760 patent was the subject of several cases brought by Cisco Systems in three US district courts, the board denied the review.

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17 July 2019   The US Patent and Trademark Office has published an update to its American Invents Act Trial Practice guide.