PTAB Institutes IPR Despite Delayed Sotera Stipulation

The Patent Trial and Appeal Board granted institution of inter partes review after petitioner submitted a Sotera stipulation to patent owner via email, several days after patent owner's preliminary response. The board rejected patent owner's argument that the Sotera stipulation was too late, holding that there is no specific time limit for when such stipulation must be submitted before a decision on institution is made.

Petitioner filed an IPR petition alleging that certain claims covering methods for displaying social networking and navigation information would have been obvious. In its preliminary response, patent owner argued that the board should exercise its discretion to deny institution because of its parallel infringement action involving the same parties and invalidity challenges. A few days later, petitioner emailed patent owner stating that, pursuant to Sotera, petitioner would not pursue "any ground that [it] raised or reasonably could have raised" during