On the first of February, in Qualcomm Inc. v. Apple Inc., the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (“the CAFC”) vacated and remanded the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (“the Board”) on two inter partes review (“IPR”) decisions that held claims 1, 2, 5-9, 12, 13, and 16-22 of Qualcomm’s U.S. Patent No.
In late December, in Intel Corp. v. Qualcomm Inc., 2020-1828 (Fed. Cir. Dec. 28, 2021), the Federal Circuit found the PTAB erred by accepting Intel’s stipulation concerning the indefiniteness of a means-plus-function claim term. In this opinion, the Federal Circuit explains that in Inter Partes Review (IPR) proceedings, patentability determinations cannot be circumvented due to