ITC To Determine Impact Of Final IPR Ruling

On April 18, 2016, the International Trade Commission ("ITC") issued a Notice in Certain Three-Dimensional Cinema Systems and Components Thereof, Inv. No. 337-TA-939, requesting briefing from the parties relating to a final inter partes review ("IPR") decision by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board ("PTAB") that certain of the claims asserted in the ITC case are unpatentable. The ITC will have the opportunity to provide guidance on the effect of PTAB final decisions of unpatentability on pending ITC proceedings.

Statutory Framework

35 U.S.C.§ 318 provides that if the PTAB issues an IPR final written decision finding patent claims unpatentable, the Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office will issue and publish a certificate canceling those claims—but only after an appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has concluded (or the time for appeal has expired). 35 U.S.C.§ 318(b). Because patent claims found unpatentable by the PTAB may still be