PGR Ineligible – Petitioner Failed To Show Post-AIA Priority

Ocado Group ("Petitioner") filed a petition requesting a post-grant review of a claim from U.S. Patent No. 10,696,478 ('478 Patent) owned by AutoStore Technology ("Patent Owner").  The Board concluded that the Petitioner did not meet its burden of showing that it was more likely than not that the '478 Patent has, or had at least one claim having an effective filing date on or after March 16, 2013.  Accordingly, the Board held that the '478 Patent was not eligible for post-grant review.

The application that issued into '478 patent was filed on October 1, 2019.  It claims priority to a chain of other applications, with the earliest being a Norwegian application filed on December 10, 2012.  Under Petitioner's proposed construction of the asserted claim, which is outlined below, the asserted claim would not have written description support in the 2012 Norwegian application.  If the PTAB agreed with Petitioner's construction, the asserted claim would have an effective