PTAB Wrongly Axed Cruise Control Patent, Fed. Circ. Rules

Law360 (August 13, 2021, 9:51 PM EDT) — The Federal Circuit reversed a Patent Trial and Appeal Board decision invalidating two claims of a cruise control patent that has been asserted against Ford, BMW and Fiat Chrysler, finding Friday that the board overlooked evidence that the claims are not obvious.

The appeals court found that the PTAB reached the wrong conclusion in its inter partes review of a Carrum Technologies patent that was challenged by Unified Patents. It concluded that “reversal is appropriate here because the only permissible factual finding” is that the claims are not invalid.

Carrum has filed a Delaware federal court suit accusing the three automakers of infringing…