PTAB Grants Motion To Amend In Full, Rejecting Ten Obviousness Combinations

On March 13, 2018, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board ("PTAB") issued a final written decision in Apple v. Realtime Data, IPR2016-01737, in which it fully granted Realtime Data's motion to amend with respect to fifty-five substitute claims. The decision replaces each original claim the Board found unpatentable. The Board's decision found that the amended claims were patentable despite ten obviousness combinations presented by Apple.

The decision represents a very rare full victory for a patent owner on a motion to amend in post-grant proceedings. Out of 2,766 trials completed through September 30, 2017, the PTAB had only granted four (4) motions to amend in full, and ten (10) in part, according to statistics published by the Patent Office. Noroozi PC represented Realtime Data in connection with the motion to amend, and was brought into the proceeding only weeks before the deadline for filing the motion.