Upholding a Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB or Board)
patentability finding, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal
Circuit found that the PTAB did not err in determining the broadest
reasonable construction of a claim term and finding that the record
did not establish anticipation or obviousness. Organik Kimya AS
v. Rohm & Haas Co., Case Nos. 15-1983; -2001 (Fed. Cir.,
Oct. 11, 2017) (Newman, J).
Rohm & Haas owns two patents directed to a process for
preparing emulsion polymers that can be used in opaque coatings,
such as paints and inks. The opacity of the emulsion polymers is a
property produced by voids formed within the polymer particles
during the process. The claimed process requires the step of
providing a monomer and a "swelling agent under conditions
wherein there is no substantial polymerization of the
monomer." Organik Kimya filed petitions for inter
partes review against both patents, each of which was
instituted. During the trial, the PTAB
