Substantial Evidence Supports Non-Obviousness In Helmet Case

In a long-running dispute between Thales Visionix, Inc., and the US government and Elbit Systems of America, LLC, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) issued a final written decision finding that 11 claims of the challenged patent were not obvious (while invalidating other asserted claims on grounds not discussed here). The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed the non-obviousness determination, finding that substantial evidence supported the determination and that Thales's expert offered more credible testimony than Elbit's invalidity expert. Thales Visionix, Inc. v. US, Case No. 17-51355 (Fed. Cir., Feb. 6, 2018) (Wallach, J). 

Elbit filed a petition for inter partes review of Thales' patent having claims generally covering HMDS used by F-35 fighter jet pilots. The claims utilized mathematical equations to determine the orientation of the helmet relative to the frame of a moving vehicle through inertial sensors, such as accelerometers and