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ARTICLE · 01 APRIL 2015

Real Parties In Interest Really Matter

Citing the petitioner's failure to identify all real parties in interest, the USPTO Patent Trial and Appeal Board vacated earlier decisions on institution and terminated the inter partes review of five related cases.

United StatesIntellectual Property

GEA Process Engineering, Inc. v. Steuben Foods, Inc.

Citing the petitioner's failure to identify all real parties in interest (RPIs), the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's (USPTO) Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB or Board) vacated earlier decisions on institution and terminated the inter partes review (IPR) of five related cases. GEA Process Engineering, Inc. v. Steuben Foods, Inc., Case Nos. IPR2014-00041, -00043, -00051, -00054, -00055 (PTAB, Dec. 23, 2014) (Elluru, APJ).

The Board instituted IPR of five patents held by Steuben Foods. During the initial conference call, the patent owner asked for additional discovery relating to the RPIs of the petitions, alleging that the petitions may have failed to identify Procomac, an Italian sister company of the petitioner, as an RPI that may have funded and controlled the filing of the petitions. The Board gave the patent owner leave to file a motion for additional discovery, but later denied the motion "because the

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