PTAB Applies Stringent Standards For Conception And Reduction-To-Practice Standards

In Garmin v. Cuozzo, the first IPR final decision, the PTAB rejected the patent owner's corroborating documents, declaration, and deposition testimony introduced to prove that he was first to invent the claimed speed limit indicator technology.

Under pre-AIA law, inventors can disqualify prior art references by proving an earlier date of invention. To antedate a reference, an inventor must demonstrate 1) a moment of " conception" and 2) reasonable diligence towards reducing the invention to practice. In disapproving Cuozzo's attempt to antedate two prior art patents, the Board applied a strict "independent corroboration" standard, pointing to insufficiently explained gaps in the inventor's patenting efforts as demonstrating no "continuous exercise of reasonable diligence."