The Federal Circuit recently reaffirmed a case where common
sense was used to supply a missing element in a § 103
obviousness analysis. On June 26, 2020, the Federal Circuit issued
a decision in B/E Aerospace, Inc. v. C&D Zodiac,
Inc., Nos. 2019-1935, 2019-1936 (Fed. Cir. Jun. 26, 2020)
("B/E Aerospace") affirming a Patent Trial and
Appeal Board ("PTAB") final written decision finding
patent claims invalid in view of a combination of prior art and
common sense.
The decision follows the standard developed by Arendi
S.A.R.L. v. Apple Inc., 832 F.3d 1355 (Fed. Cir. 2016)
("Arendi") and Perfect Web Techs, Inc. v.
InfoUSA, Inc., 587 F.3d 1324, 1328 (Fed. Cir. 2009)
("Perfect Web Techs") that allows common sense
to provide missing claim limitations in limited circumstances.
As articulated in Arendi, the standard for allowing
common sense and general knowledge to provide missing limitations
in an obviousness analysis is limited to situations where the
technology at issue
