The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit reversed a
Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) decision invalidating the
challenged claims in an inter partes review (IPR), finding
that the PTAB's conclusions in support of the decision were not
sufficiently explained in its final written decision, nor could the
Court gain any such explanation from the record. DSS Tech.
Mgmt. v. Apple Inc., Case Nos. 16-2523; -2524; -2018 (Fed.
Cir., Mar. 23, 2018) (O'Malley, J) (Newman, J, dissenting).
Apple filed two IPR petitions challenging claims of DDS's
patent directed to a wireless communication network. In two final
written decisions, the PTAB found that all of the challenged claims
were invalid as obvious in light of two prior art references. DDS
conceded that the cited prior art references disclosed every
limitation except one limitation that related to a
"transmitter[] being energized in low duty cycle RF
bursts." Thus, the sole issue on appeal was the PTAB's
finding that
