PTAB Holds That University Thesis Qualified As Prior Art

In its Institution Decision, the Board addressed whether Trevarthen, a bachelor's thesis from the University of Wollongong, qualified as prior art against U.S. Patent No. 9,844,206 B2. The Board emphasized that "at the institution stage, the petition must identify, with particularity, evidence sufficient to establish a reasonable likelihood that the reference was publicly accessible before the critical date of the challenged patent."

The Board found persuasive evidence that Trevarthen was publicly available through multiple channels. Notably, the thesis was published in the University of Wollongong's Research Online digital archive, which "ensures that 'a digital copy' of each reference... published in the digital repository 'is available universally on the Internet and located through search engines such as Google and Yahoo.'"