Federal Circuit Finds PTAB Discovery Determinations
One-Sided
On the heels of
Applications in Internet Time, LLC v. RPX Corporation, the
Federal Circuit once again finds itself considering a PTAB
RPI/Privity dispute. In RPX, the Court held that "determining
whether a non-party is a "real party in interest" demands
a flexible approach that takes into account both equitable and
practical considerations, with an eye toward determining whether
the non-party is a clear beneficiary that has a preexisting,
established relationship with the petitioner." That is, the
inquiry is fact-dependent, and not limited to one party controlling
the other as some PTAB decisions seemed to suggest.
Last week, the Court examined the allocation of burdens in such
disputes in Worlds Inc. v. Bungie, Inc., finding that the
PTAB may be improperly shifting the burden to Patent Owners in
RPI/Privity discovery disputes.
