The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) recently
issued its second decision in a new inter partes review proceeding.
In the decision, the USPTO Patent Trial and Appeal
Board invalidated all of the claims of the patent under review.
The patent was related to a no-idle air conditioning system used
for long haul trucks. In July 2012, the patent owner, Bergstrom
Inc. filed a patent infringement litigation against Idle Free
Systems Inc. in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District
of Illinois. In response to Bergstrom's infringement
allegations, Idle Free Systems responded with its own allegations
that the patent was not infringed and invalid. However, instead of
challenging the validity of the patent in district court, Idle Free
Systems filed a request for inter partes review in the USPTO. After
the USPTO agreed to institute the inter partes review proceeding,
Idle Free Systems was able to convince the district court in
Illinois to place the
