Well, we are starting to see the work product of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, whose goal for many of the new AIA proceedings is to dispose of them within a year. Here’s the decision in CRS Advanced Technologies, Inc. v. Frontline Technologies, Inc. (Case CBM2012-00005), instituted January 23, 2013 and decided just under a year later on January 21, 2014.
CRS wanted to invalidate some of the claims of US Patent 6,675,151. Doing so in court would likely have cost half a million dollars or more. CRS picked the Covered Business Method approach and (I’d guess) probably spent well under a quarter million dollars. And prevailed.
What I would have hoped is that the decision might help to clarify what practitioners need to do to draft patent applications that will survive post-grant review (whether before the PTAB or before the courts). I don’t think I got my wish. Here’s why I feel this way. Continue reading “PTAB speaks on 35 USC § 101 — or is it § 103? CRS v Frontline”