Addressing whether the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB or
Board) too narrowly read its rules limiting reply briefs in an
inter partes review (IPR) to preclude a petitioner's
argument as a "new theory of unpatentability," the US
Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit concluded that the Board
abused its discretion by not considering petitioner's
arguments. Apple Inc. v. Andrea Electronics Corp., Case
Nos. 18-2382, -2383 (Fed. Cir. Feb. 7, 2020) (Plager, J.).
Andrea Electronics owns two patents relating to digital audio
processing technology. At Apple's request, the Board instituted
IPR proceedings on both patents. In its initial petition, Apple
argued that an algorithm identified in a certain prior art
reference disclosed limitations relating to signal power. To that
end, Apple's expert submitted a declaration asserting that,
based on the use of certain technical assumptions and variables, an
ordinarily skilled artisan applying the algorithm would have
derived
