On Friday, January 15, the U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari
in In re Cuozzo Speed Technologies LLC. The case was
appealed from the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and
arises from an inter partes review (IPR) of U.S. Patent 6,778,074
by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB). Garmin Intl., Inc.
v. Cuozzo Speed Tech. LLC, Case IPR2012-00001, Patent
6,778,074 (PTAB Nov. 13, 2013). The Supreme Court will
consider:
- the claim interpretation standard applied by the PTAB in IPR
proceedings; and
- the judicial reviewability of the PTAB's decision to
initiate IPR proceedings.
PTAB Proceedings
Garmin International, Inc. and Garmin USA, Inc. petitioned the
USPTO to review all claims of the '074 patent relating to a
speed limit indicator which displays when a vehicle exceeds the
speed limit in a particular area. The PTAB reviewed only three
claims, and invalidated those claims as obvious in view of prior
art identified by Garmin. In reaching its
