Only Common Sense Not Sufficient To Prove Obviousness Over Prior Art

Can the grant of patent be rejected on the obviousness criteria based only on common sense? This issue has been handled by United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in the case of ARENDI S.A.R.L., Appellant v. APPLE INC., GOOGLE INC., MOTOROLA MOBILITY LLC, Appellees, decided on August 10, 2016. On December 2, 2013, Apple Inc., Google, Inc. and Motorola Mobility LLC (collectively "Appellees")) filed a petition for inter partes review ("IPR") of U.S. Patent No. 7,917,843 (the "'843 patent"), which is owned by appellant Arendi S.A.R.L. ("Arendi"). On June 9, 2015, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board ("Board") issued a decision finding claims 1-2, 8, 14-17, 20-21, 23-24, 30, 36-39, and 42-43 would have been obvious.