Director Vidal issues a precedential Director review decision regarding abuse of the inter partes review process

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Patent Trial and Appeal Board

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Director Vidal issues a precedential Director review decision regarding abuse of the inter partes review process

OpenSky Industries, LLC v. VLSI Technology LLC, IPR2021-01064, Paper 102 (Oct. 4, 2022)

The Director review decision holds that Petitioner OpenSky abused the inter partes review (“IPR”) process by (1) filing an IPR in an attempt to extract payment from both Patent Owner VLSI and joined Petitioner Intel, and (2) proposing to undermine the proceeding to extract the payment from VLSI. The Director sanctions OpenSky by precluding OpenSky from actively participating in the IPR, and temporarily elevating Intel to the lead petitioner. The Director further orders OpenSky to show cause why it should not be ordered to pay compensatory damages to VLSI.  Finally, in an effort to balance the competing interests at issue in this case and determine whether to maintain or dismiss the underlying proceeding, the Director remands to the Board to determine whether the Petition, based only on the record before the Board prior to institution, presents a compelling, meritorious challenge.

Learn more about PTAB precedential and informative decisions and the status of Director review requests.