Addressing final decisions in two separate inter partes
reviews, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit overturned
a Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) claim construction because
of collateral estoppel in one case, and in a second case upheld the
PTAB claim construction and obviousness determination. Nestle
USA, Inc. v. Steuben Foods, Inc., Case No. 17-1193 (Fed. Cir.,
Mar. 13, 2018) (Hughes, J); Steuben Foods, Inc. v. Nestle USA,
Inc., Case No. 17-1290 (Fed. Cir., Mar. 13, 2018) (Hughes,
J).
Steuben owns several patents directed to aseptic packaging of
foods, which relates to putting a sterile food product into a
sterile package within a sterile environment. Nestle sought
inter partes review of Steuben's patents, and the PTAB
issued final decisions finding one patent non-obvious and the
second patent obvious in view of the prior art. Nestle appealed the
non-obviousness decision, and Steuben appealed the obviousness
finding.
