Microsoft Corp. v. SurfCast, Inc.
Addressing the requirements for antedating prior art, the U.S.
Patent and Trademark Office Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB)
ruled all claims of a challenged patent unpatentable, finding that
in order to prove prior conception, an inventor's testimony
must be independently corroborated. Microsoft Corp. v.
SurfCast, Inc., Case Nos. IPR2013-00292; and -00295 (PTAB,
Oct. 14, 2014) (Clements, APJ).
Microsoft filed four petitions requesting inter partes review of
a single patent that had claims related to a graphical user
interface that organizes content from a variety of information
sources into a grid of tiles, each with an independent refresh
rate. SurfCast sought to antedate a prior art reference, a
patent that Microsoft relied on as a § 102(e) reference.
As evidence of conception dates, each inventor submitted a
declaration. To corroborate the inventors' testimony,
SurfCast submitted physical exhibits in the form of
