The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed a
Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB or Board) decision finding the
challenged claims obvious over a single prior art reference owned
by the patent owner, notwithstanding the patent owner's
argument that the prior art had shortcomings. Idemitsu Kosan
Co., Ltd. v. SFC Co. Ltd., Case No. 16-2721 (Fed. Cir., Sept.
15, 2017) (O'Malley, J).
Idemitsu is the owner of a patent that claims a device
containing a specific organic medium layered between an anode and
cathode; when a voltage is applied through the electrodes, the
organic medium emits light. Idemitsu is also the assignee of a
prior art reference (Arakane) that teaches an organic
electroluminescence device where the organic light-emitting medium
layer “has a mixture layer containing (A) at least one hole
transporting [HT] compound and (B) at least one electron
transporting [ET] compound and the energy gap Eg1 of the [HT]
compound and the energy gap Eg2 of the
