POP to Decide Further Extension of 314(a)?
A year or so back, I discussed a 314(a) dispute at the Patent
Trial & Appeal Board (PTAB)
where the Board considered a co-pending ITC investigation. In
that decision, the Board instituted trial, pointing out
that "the ITC does not have the authority to invalidate a
patent and ITC decisions do not necessarily pertain to the issues
raised in an inter partes review
petition." More recently the applicability of ITC
investigations to a Fintiv factor 314(a)
analysis was raised in Garmin International,
Inc. v. Koninklijke Philips
N.V., (IPR2020-00754).
In Garmin, the Board found that a co-pending ITC
investigation favored a denial of institution. The case is
noteworthy as in
assessing the Fintiv factors, the Board
effectively made clear that any petition
concurrent with an ITC filing should be denied.
