The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed a
Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB or Board) decision finding
claims invalid as obvious, but did not directly address the
PTAB's determination that joinder was appropriate. Nidec Motor
Corp. v. Zhongshan Broad Ocean Motor Co., Case No. 16-2321 (Fed.
Cir., Aug. 22, 2017) (per curiam) (Dyk, J, concurring). In a
concurrence, however, two members of the panel opined that the
PTAB's use of expanded panels to reach a position consistent
with other panels was objectionable.
Nidec owns a patent directed to a low-noise heating, ventilating
and air conditioning (HVAC) system. Compared to conventional HVAC
systems, the patented system has an improved motor controller that
uses sinewave communications instead of conventional square-wave
communications. The use of sinewave communications results in less
vibration and noise from the motor, since sinewave communications
have more gradual and continuous oscillations in
