The Power Of Ordinary Skill: PTAB Denies Rehearing Request Based On The Defined POSA Lacking Skill To Support Obviousness Arguments

In Kinaxis Inc. v. Blue Yonder Group, Inc.,¹ the Board denied Petitioner Kinaxis' rehearing request to overturn the Board's decision to deny institution because the relevant person of ordinary skill in the art ("POSA"), as defined by the Petitioner, did not possess the requisite level of skill to make the alleged modifications underpinning Petitioner's obviousness arguments.

Board's Institution Decision

Petitioner initially challenged U.S. Patent No. 7,050,874, which was directed toward a computing system that automatically selects which supplier to source product components from based on comparing information in bills of material (BOMs) with previously stored supplier information, such as pricing and inventory. Petitioner presented an uncontested definition for the relevant POSA as someone having "formal collegiate education in an academic area emphasizing operations or supply chain management, and at least five years of experience." Notably, this definition