PTAB Eyes Swear-Behind Evidence With Skepticism

On December 20^th, the PTAB found inventor Seymour Levine's attempt to rescue certain claims of his patent via a swear-behind declaration unsuccessful. Boeing Company v. Seymour Levine, IPR2015-01341, Final Written Decision (Dec. 20, 2016). Mr. Levine's patent, RE39618, claimed a remote, paperless airline maintenance system. That system monitors performance parameters and aircraft operational parameters, and broadcasts this information to ground stations via an RF network. The Board found that Mr. Levine failed to prove conception of his claimed invention prior to the filing date of the Monroe reference, cited in Boeing's ground of unpatentability.

Levine's patent described two different embodiments. A first embodiment did not require an onboard flight data recorder. Such a flight data recorder is typically positioned near the tail of an aircraft and receives flight performance parameters (e.g., altitude, speed, engine thrust, fuel levels, directional accelerations).