The Board Opines on Where the Line is on Sanctionable Behavior During Deposition

Following up on our article on depositions the Board recently denied a motion for sanctions by the Patent Owner, which alleged that the Petitioner’s questioning during deposition exceeded the scope of the witness’s declaration. The Board found that “Petitioner’s attempts to elicit testimony regarding [new evidence], while inartful, did not rise to the level of sanctionable conduct because they were reasonably related to [the declarant’s] direct testimony,” and the Patent Owner ultimately “suffered no harm.” (Paper 66, p. 33.)

This article appeared in the July 2018 issue of PTAB Strategies and Insights. To view our past issues, as well as other firm newsletters, please click here.