IPR Kills Another Jury Verdict

In Personal Audio, the Federal Circuit upheld a district court judgment dismissal of a jury verdict for patent owner throwing out a $1.3 million judgement because the patent was later invalidated at the PTAB. Patent owner argued that “overturning the verdict of a jury with a later IPR proceeding” was unconstitutional and that “the IPR should not be given collateral estoppel effect.” The Federal Circuit disagreed that it even had jurisdiction to hear challenges to the IPR decision because “the exclusive vehicle” for such a challenge is “direct appeal from the final written decision.” The Court also found that the patent owner had forfeited the right to question whether “the district court’s holding that the necessary consequence of the affirmed final written decision was the termination of this case in favor of CBS,” by agreeing to the entry of judgment before appealing.

This article appeared in the January 2020 issue of PTAB Strategies and Insights. To view our past issues, as well as other firm newsletters, please click here.