In Icon Health & Fitness, Inc. v. Strava, Inc., No. 2016-1475 (Fed. Cir. 2017), during a reexamination of an issued patent, the Federal Circuit affirmed a rejection of several of the claims by the Patent Trial Appeal Board (PTAB). The patentee essentially argued that the expert declarations contained "legal conclusions" and were therefore improperly relied upon. The Federal Circuit ruled that expert declarations can be properly relied upon if “aspects of the declaration relate to factual findings,” which they did in this case.
The PTAB's decision regarding several other claims was reversed and remanded by the Federal Circuit, finding that neither the examiner nor the PTAB provided any explanation of how the facts supported the decision that the claims were obvious. Instead, the examiner and the PTAB improperly relied entirely upon attorney arguments by the reexamination petitioner which the court noted: “is not evidence.”
More information on this case, as well as a copy of the court's opinion, can be found here:
www.lexology.com/library/document.ashx?g=626bcf5a-395d-4486-a6b4-c551fae69640
The PTAB's decision regarding several other claims was reversed and remanded by the Federal Circuit, finding that neither the examiner nor the PTAB provided any explanation of how the facts supported the decision that the claims were obvious. Instead, the examiner and the PTAB improperly relied entirely upon attorney arguments by the reexamination petitioner which the court noted: “is not evidence.”
More information on this case, as well as a copy of the court's opinion, can be found here:
www.lexology.com/library/document.ashx?g=626bcf5a-395d-4486-a6b4-c551fae69640
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