Addressing issues of obviousness, the US Court of Appeals for
the Federal Circuit upheld the obviousness determination of the
Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB or Board), explaining that it
is not necessary for two references to be physically combinable in
order to render a patent obvious. Allied Erecting and
Dismantling Co., Inc. v. Genesis Attachments, LLC, Case No.
15-1533 (Fed. Cir., June 15, 2016) (Wallach, J).
Allied owns a patent directed to an interchangeable tool system
that includes a jaw set couplable to a universal body.
Allied’s claims require a jaw set having a pair of moveable
blades pivoted together about a main pivot pin that is encased by a
housing, wherein the blades are moveable relative to the housing.
To decouple the jaw set, the housing can be removed from the
universal body without disassembly of the pivot pin. Genesis filed
a request for inter partes reexamination of Allied’s
patent, arguing that it is obvious over two references,
