throbber

`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
`______________________
`BEFORE THE PATENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD
`______________________
`
`SONOS, INC.,
`Petitioner,
`v.
`IMPLICIT, LLC,
`Patent Owner.
`______________________
`
`Case No. IPR2018-00767
`Patent No. 8,942,252
`______________________
`
`
`PATENT OWNER IMPLICIT, LLC’S OPENING BRIEF
`PURSUANT TO REMAND FROM THE UNITED STATES
`COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FEDERAL CIRCUIT
`
`

`

`Page
`Introduction ...................................................................................................... 1
`I.
`Background ...................................................................................................... 3
`II.
`III. Argument ......................................................................................................... 6
`A.
`Correction of Inventorship Is Retroactive, as Demonstrated by
`the Plain Language of Section 256, the Statutory Framework
`and Legislative Intent, as Well as Relevant Caselaw ............................ 6
`1.
`Statutory language and legislative intent strongly indicate
`that inventorship corrections have retroactive effect. ................. 7
`Caselaw determinations confirm that § 256 inventorship
`corrections have retroactive effect. ............................................. 8
`Section 256’s Retroactive Application Will “Reward Actual
`Inventors,” the Object of the Provision ............................................... 11
`1.
`Section 256 promotes public policy and should be
`construed liberally to benefit inventors. ................................... 11
`Inventorship is a complex analysis that may be informed
`by the determinations of fact-finders. ....................................... 12
`Section 256 does not have a diligence requirement and
`does not preclude “considered acts” from its ambit. ................ 14
`IV. Conclusion ..................................................................................................... 15
`
`
`B.
`
`2.
`
`2.
`
`3.
`
`
`
`Case IPR2018-00767
`Patent No. 8,942,252
`
`Table of Contents
`
`i
`
`
`

`

`Case IPR2018-00767
`Patent No. 8,942,252
`
`I.
`
`Introduction
`Implicit, LLC (“Implicit”) hereby submits this opening brief pursuant the
`
`Board’s instruction (Paper 60 at 2-3) and following the limited remand order of the
`
`United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (Implicit, LLC v. Sonos,
`
`Inc., Nos. 20-1173, -1174, D.I. 85 (Fed. Cir. Nov. 9, 2022)).
`
`In view of the detailed Board findings in the Final Written Decisions
`
`concerning Mr. Guy C. Carpenter’s contributions to the claimed inventions,
`
`Implicit submitted all necessary fees and affidavits under § 1.324(b) to correct
`
`inventorship of U.S. Patent Nos. 7,391,791 and 8,942,252 (collectively “the
`
`patents-at-issue”). See infra § II (4)-(6). While the consolidated appeals of
`
`IPR2018-00766 and IPR2018-00767 were pending before the Federal Circuit,1 the
`
`Director granted both of Implicit’s petitions to correct the inventorship. See infra
`
`§ II (1), (6)-(8). Implicit relied on SIPCO, LLC v. Emerson Elec. Co. to seek and
`
`obtain a remand to the Board for further consideration of its unpatentability
`
`
`1 The Federal Circuit appeal (No. 2020-1173 (lead)) of the Board proceedings in
`
`IPR2018-00766 for U.S. Patent No. 7,391,791 (“the ’791 patent”), was
`
`consolidated with the appeal (No. 2020-1174) of the Board proceedings in
`
`IPR2018-00767 for U.S. Patent No. 8,942,252 (“the ’252 patent”). See Implicit,
`
`LLC v. Sonos, Inc., 2020-1173, -1174, D.I. 2 (Fed. Cir. Dec. 2, 2019).
`
`1
`
`

`

`Case IPR2018-00767
`Patent No. 8,942,252
`determinations given the issued certificates. See No. 2018-1364, D.I. 29 at 2-4
`
`(Fed. Cir. Jun. 27, 2018) (unpublished) (where corrections were granted during
`
`appeal, the court ordered the case “remanded for the Board to issue an order
`
`addressing what, if any, impact the certificate of correction has on its final written
`
`decision in this case.”). Significantly, the SIPCO case also explained that
`
`corrections of inventorship under § 256 are accorded “retroactive” effect, i.e., as
`
`though existing in corrected form from the date of patent issuance. Emerson Elec.
`
`v. SIPCO, IPR2016-00984, Paper 52 at 17-21 (P.T.A.B. Jan. 24, 2020), aff’d, No.
`
`2018-1364, D.I. 78 (Fed. Cir. Jan. 21, 2021); see infra § III.A.2.
`
`Implicit respectfully requests on remand that the Board reconsider the Final
`
`Written Decision of IPR2018-00767 (Paper 40) and reverse its unpatentability
`
`determinations in light of the correct inventive entity applied retroactively. See
`
`infra §§ III.A., IV. The Board previously relied on U.S. Patent No. 7,269,338 to
`
`Janevski (“Janevski,” Ex.1007), which predates the provisional application
`
`leading to the ’791 patent by just six days, to find all challenged claims
`
`unpatentable.2 Paper 40 at 9-10.
`
`
`2 The Board previously held that Petitioner Sonos, Inc. (“Sonos”) demonstrated
`
`that the ’791 patent’s claims 1–3, 6–9, 12, 16, 19, and 23–25 are anticipated by
`
`Janevski; that claims 1–3, 6–9, and 12 would have been obvious in view of
`
`2
`
`

`

`Case IPR2018-00767
`Patent No. 8,942,252
`
`II. Background
`The following facts serve as background:
`
`1)
`
`The ’791 patent is entitled “Method and System for Synchronization of
`
`Content Rendering” and issued on June 24, 2008. See IPR2018-00766, Ex. 1001.
`
`The ’252 patent is a continuation of the ’791 patent and issued on January 27,
`
`2015. See IPR2018-00767, Ex. 1001. The ’791 and ’252 patents both claim priority
`
`to U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/341,574, filed on December 17, 2001.
`
`IPR2018-00766, Ex. 1001 at [60]; IPR2018-00767, Ex. 1001 at [60].
`
`2)
`
`On March 9, 2018, Sonos filed petitions for inter partes review of the ’791
`
`and ’252 patents, alleging unpatentability under 35 U.S.C. §§ 102-103 and relying
`
`in each of its grounds on Janevski. See supra n.2. Janevski has an effective filing
`
`date of December 11, 2001. Paper 40 at 9-10; Ex. 1007, at [22].
`
`3)
`
`Implicit attempted to antedate Janevski in the IPR proceedings. See
`
`IPR2018-0767, Paper 9 (POR) at 14-31 (and cited exhibits). Implicit detailed the
`
`
`Janevski alone; and that claims 1–3, 6–9, and 12 would have been obvious over the
`
`combination of Janevski and Schneidewend. See IPR2018-00766, Paper 46 at 2,
`
`50. The Board also held that the ’252 patent’s claims 1–3, 8, 11, and 17 would
`
`have been obvious over the combination of Janevski and other references. Paper 40
`
`at 3, 53-54.
`
`3
`
`

`

`Case IPR2018-00767
`Patent No. 8,942,252
`activities of two the named inventors—Mr. Balassanian and Mr. Bradley—as they
`
`worked on the “Juno Project,” including how they interacted with the company’s
`
`Engineering Master, Mr. Carpenter, to implement the inventions of the challenged
`
`claims. See id. at 14-16, 19-31; see Ex. 2001, ¶¶ 26-32; Ex. 2009 at 15; Ex. 2011 at
`
`8, 37-38. Implicit asserted that the claimed subject matter was conceived and
`
`reduced to practice two days prior to Janevski’s filing date. See IPR2018-00767,
`
`Paper 9 (POR) at 14–31; Ex. 2001, ¶¶ 6, 33, 42-47; Hear’g Tr. 35:2–5, 40:2–43:7;
`
`see also Ex. 2001; Ex. 2008; Ex. 2011; Exs. 2012-13; Exs. 2015-16; Ex. 2018;
`
`Exs. 2020-21; Exs. 2025-29; Ex. 2031; Exs. 2032-34; Exs. 2037-38; Ex. 2056; Ex.
`
`2060; Ex. 2063; Ex. 2065; Exs. 2074-75; Exs. 2077-78; Ex. 2080; Exs. 2082-87);
`
`Paper 40 at 19-23; accord IPR2018-0766, Paper 13 (POR) at 13-31 (and cited
`
`exhibits).
`
`4)
`
`The Board found the document entitled “synchronization.doc” (Ex. 2037)
`
`was filed on December 17, 2001, as the provisional
`application to which the ʼ252 Patent claims priority and
`which Patent Owner contends was drafted at least as
`early as December 9, 2001. The evidence shows,
`however, that the December 9 version of this document,
`which appears to be the version that was the basis for
`the provisional application, was authored by non-
`inventor Mr. Carpenter.
`Paper 40 at 20 (emphasis added) (citing Ex. 2038; Ex. 2077). According to the
`
`Board, there was no evidence “that anyone else was involved in development of
`
`4
`
`

`

`Case IPR2018-00767
`Patent No. 8,942,252
`the source code besides Mr. Carpenter.” See IPR2018-00766, Paper 46 at 21; Ex.
`
`2077 at 30-35; Ex. 2038.
`
`5)
`
`The Board found that Mr. Carpenter’s source code conception and reduction
`
`to practice occurred before the patent to Janevski was filed but held that it did not
`
`inure to the two inventors then named on the challenged patents—Mr. Balassanian
`
`and Mr. Bradley. Paper 40 at 15-22. Accordingly, the Board held that Janevski
`
`constituted prior art for all of its conclusions of unpatentability. Id. at 23, 53.
`
`6)
`
`In December of 2021, Implicit informed the Director that it had pursued its
`
`statutory rights under § 256 and petitioned for certificates of correction to add Mr.
`
`Carpenter as an inventor to the patents-at-issue. Paper 46 at 2-3, 10-11. Implicit
`
`explained that such corrections of inventorship have “retroactive” effect and
`
`included citations to supporting caselaw such as SIPCO. Id. at 3 (asserting that
`
`“With such a change to the inventorship, Implicit would successfully antedate the
`
`Janevski reference.”), 5-9 (explaining inventitive and procedural history); 11-14
`
`(collecting cases on retroactive application). Separately, the Director granted
`
`Implicit’s “Petition for Correction of Inventorship Under 37 CFR § 1.324” for both
`
`the ’791 and ’252 patents, adding Mr. Carpenter as a coinventor; the formal
`
`certificates issued in August 2022. See IPR2018-00766, Ex. 2097 (Certificate of
`
`Correction for the ’791 patent (Aug. 13, 2022)); IPR2018-00767, Ex. 2097
`
`(Certificate of Correction for the ’252 patent (Aug, 9, 2022)).
`
`5
`
`

`

`Case IPR2018-00767
`Patent No. 8,942,252
`On August 29, 2022, with the inventorship correction formalized by the
`
`7)
`
`Director, Implicit renewed its motion before the Federal Circuit seeking a remand
`
`to the Board by relying on SIPCO, LLC v. Emerson Elec. Co. See Implicit, LLC v.
`
`Sonos, Inc., Nos. 20-1173, -1174, D.I. 84 at 1 (Fed. Cir. Nov. 9, 2022); see also
`
`Implicit, LLC v. Sonos, Inc., Nos. 20-1173, -1174, D.I. 78 & 80 (Fed. Cir. June 9 &
`
`28, 2022) (motion for remand and reply brief).
`
`8)
`
`On November 9, 2022, the Federal Circuit retained jurisdiction over the
`
`pending consolidated appeals, but upon consideration of Implicit’s motion, granted
`
`a limited remand for “the PTAB [to] issue an order addressing what, if any, impact
`
`the certificates of correction would have on the final written decisions in these
`
`cases.” Implicit, LLC v. Sonos, Inc., Nos. 20-1173, -1174, D.I. 85 (Fed. Cir. Nov.
`
`9, 2022). This briefing followed by order of the Board. (Paper 60.)
`
`III. Argument
`A. Correction of Inventorship Is Retroactive, as Demonstrated by
`the Plain Language of Section 256, the Statutory Framework and
`Legislative Intent, as Well as Relevant Caselaw
`“[W]e begin, of course, with the language of the statutes at issue. However,
`
`to fully understand the meaning of the statute, we look ‘not only to the particular
`
`statutory language, but to the design of the statute as a whole and to its object and
`
`policy.’” Assoc’d Elec. Coop., Inc. v. United States, 226 F.3d 1322, 1326 (Fed. Cir.
`
`2000) (quoting Crandon v. United States, 494 U.S. 152, 158 (1990)).
`
`6
`
`

`

`Case IPR2018-00767
`Patent No. 8,942,252
`Statutory language and legislative intent strongly indicate
`that inventorship corrections have retroactive effect.
`As a matter of plain statutory language, correction certificates altering
`
`1.
`
`inventorship are retroactively applicable as if in the original patent issuance,
`
`because no language in § 256(a) restricts such application:
`
`Whenever . . . through error an inventor is not named in
`an issued patent, the Director may, on application of all
`the parties and assignees, with proof of the facts and such
`other requirements as may be imposed, issue a certificate
`correcting such error.
`The error of omitting inventors or naming persons who
`are not inventors shall not invalidate the patent in which
`such error occurred if it can be corrected as provided in
`this section.
` 35 U.S.C. § 256.
`
`Related correction provisions in the Patent Act, such as §§ 254 and 255,
`
`contain an explicit limitation “for causes thereafter arising,” but such prospective-
`
`bound language is entirely absent from inventorship corrections of § 256. Cf. S.W.
`
`Software, Inc. v. Harlequin Inc., 226 F.3d 1280, 1294-96 (Fed. Cir. 2000)
`
`(rejecting the retroactive application of a certificate of correction issued under
`
`§ 254, because, inter alia, like § 255, it “contains language concerning ‘causes
`
`thereafter arising’”).
`
` Based on this plain language analysis—including of the statutory
`
`framework at large—the legislative intent of these correction provisions is clear:
`
`7
`
`

`

`Case IPR2018-00767
`Patent No. 8,942,252
`The very notion that Congress carved out a separate
`section for correction of inventorship indicates its
`intention to treat it in a different way than the much
`larger subset of corrections that Section 254
`encompasses. Thus, here the canon of statutory
`interpretation known as generalia specialibus non
`derogant (general provisions do not qualify specific
`ones) is applicable. . . . [A] Certificate of Correction
`issued for correction of inventorship has retroactive
`effect.
`Roche Palo Alto LLC v. Ranbaxy Labs. Ltd., 551 F. Supp. 2d 349, 357, 359 (D.N.J.
`
`2008) (emphasis added); see also P.J. Federico, Commentary on the New Patent
`
`Act, 35 U.S.C.A. 1, 50 (1954), reprinted in 75 J. Pat. & Trademark Off. Soc’y 163,
`
`211 (1993) (“[N]onjoinder of joint inventors shall not invalidate a patent if the
`
`mistake is one that can be corrected under the section, that is, arose by error . . . .”).
`
`2.
`
`Caselaw determinations confirm that § 256 inventorship
`corrections have retroactive effect.
`Numerous tribunals—including the Patent Trial and Appeal Board—have
`
`agreed that corrections of inventorship under § 256 are to be given “retroactive”
`
`effect, i.e., as though existing in corrected form from the date of patent issuance.
`
`The SIPCO case is highly instructive. SIPCO argued that due to applicant’s
`
`clerical error during prosecution, the parent application was identified by the
`
`wrong number on the face of the patent. The Board concluded nevertheless that
`
`various claims were unpatentable in view of the grandparent patent based on the
`
`uncorrected priority date. Emerson Elec. Co. v. SIPCO, LLC, IPR2016-00984,
`
`8
`
`

`

`Case IPR2018-00767
`Patent No. 8,942,252
`Paper 43 at 61 (P.T.A.B. Oct. 25, 2017). SIPCO then petitioned for a correction
`
`under § 255. The Federal Circuit granted patentee’s motion to remand to the Board
`
`to consider the effect of the certificate of correction that issued after entry of the
`
`Board’s final written decision. See SIPCO, No. 2018-1364, D.I. 29 at 2-4.
`
`On remand, the Board in SIPCO determined by analysis of adjacent
`
`statutory language that § 256 does have retroactive effect, whereas § 255 does not:
`
`A comparison of § 255 with § 256 further indicates that
`§ 255 does not have retroactive effect. Section 256
`authorizes the Director to issue a certificate to correct
`named inventor errors . . . . § 256 provides for retroactive
`effect of a certificate correcting named inventorship. By
`stating that the error shall not invalidate the patent,
`certificates issued under this section have retroactive
`effect in general. This is in contrast with § 255, which
`does not include any similar provision.
`Our interpretation of § 256 as having retroactive effect is
`consistent with the Federal Circuit’s decision in
`Vikase . . . [and] with the district court’s decision in
`Roche . . . .
`Emerson Elec. Co. v. SIPCO, LLC, IPR2016-00984, Paper 52 at 17-21 (P.T.A.B.
`
`Jan. 24, 2020) (on remand) (emphasis added) (citing approvingly to Vikase Corp.
`
`v. Am. Nat’l Can Co., 261 F.3d 1316, 1329 (Fed. Cir. 2001) and Roche, 551 F.
`
`Supp. 2d at 355). Accordingly, based on applicable caselaw, the Board has already
`
`correctly reasoned that “certificates issued under this section [256] have retroactive
`
`effect in general.” See id. (emphasis added); aff’d, SIPCO, No. 2018-1364, D.I. 78
`
`9
`
`

`

`Case IPR2018-00767
`Patent No. 8,942,252
`(Fed. Cir. Jan. 21, 2021) (Fed. Cir. R. 36). The Federal Circuit subsequently
`
`affirmed the Board’s determination without opinion. Id.
`
`
`
`Similarly, the Federal Circuit approved a “retroactive” rationale for § 256 in
`
`Viskase Corp., affirming the district court’s rejection of arguments that a family of
`
`patents could be found invalid during a period of incorrect inventorship, despite a
`
`granted petition to correct inventorship. See 261 F.3d at 1328-29. The Federal
`
`Circuit held that: “Absent fraud or deceptive intent, the correction of inventorship
`
`does not affect the validity or enforceability of the patent for the period before the
`
`correction. . . . 35 U.S.C. § 256 provides that an error of inventorship does not
`
`invalidate the patent if such error ‘can be corrected as provided in this section.’”
`
`Id. (emphasis added).
`
`Many other federal trial courts have come to the same conclusion regarding
`
`the retroactive effect of corrections granted under § 256. Roche, 551 F. Supp. 2d at
`
`358 (“[T]here are many federal cases that have given retrospective effect to a
`
`Certificate of Correction when it regards correction of inventorship. . . .”)
`
`(collecting cases). Roche’s exhaustive examination of § 256—which has been
`
`acknowledged by the Board as persuasive on this issue—concluded that patentee
`
`“has properly sought and obtained a Certificate of Correction to correct its
`
`improper inventorship. . . . [T]he Court holds that the July 24, 2007 Certificate of
`
`Correction issued for correction of inventorship has retroactive effect.” Id. at 359.
`
`10
`
`

`

`Case IPR2018-00767
`Patent No. 8,942,252
`If as a matter of law the now-corrected inventorship on the ’791 and ’252
`
`patents has retroactive effect, then the new inventive entity with Mr. Carpenter
`
`shows conception and reduction to practice of the relevant source code by
`
`December 9, 2001, two days before Janevski’s effective date. See supra § II (2)-
`
`(6). The provisional application disclosing the invention was diligently filed just
`
`six business days later, by December 17, 2001. See supra § II (1), (4).
`
`B.
`
`Section 256’s Retroactive Application Will “Reward Actual
`Inventors,” the Object of the Provision
`Section 256 promotes public policy and should be construed
`1.
`liberally to benefit inventors.
`The plain reading of the statute above is also consistent with the “strong
`
`public policy rationale for making a change of inventorship retroactive in effect.”
`
`See, e.g., Roche, 551 F. Supp. 2d at 357 n.5.
`
`The Federal Circuit has recognized that § 256 was enacted as a “savings
`
`provision” to attenuate the harsh effects on actual inventors of errors in
`
`ascertaining proper inventorship. Egenera, Inc. v. Cisco Systems, Inc., 972 F.3d
`
`1367, 1377 (Fed. Cir. 2020); see also S. Rep. No. 82-1979, at 7-8 (1952), reprinted
`
`in 1952 U.S.C.C.A.N. 2394, 2401-02 (“Very often two or three people make an
`
`invention together. They must apply as joint inventors. If they make a mistake in
`
`determining who are the true inventors, they do so at their peril. This provision
`
`11
`
`

`

`Case IPR2018-00767
`Patent No. 8,942,252
`permits a bona fide mistake in joining a person as [an] inventor or in failing to join
`
`a person as an inventor to be corrected.”).
`
`Provisions such as § 256, therefore, “should be given a liberal construction
`
`in favor of applicants, permitting them to make such changes as more thorough
`
`consideration of facts may show to be necessary in order to comply accurately with
`
`the law in naming inventors.” Patterson v. Hauck, 341 F.2d 131, 138 (CCPA
`
`1965).
`
`2.
`
`Inventorship is a complex analysis that may be informed by
`the determinations of fact-finders.
`Recently, Egenera, Inc. v. Cisco Systems, Inc. reiterated that, “Inventorship
`
`is sometimes easy to determine. But sometimes it is complicated, with complex
`
`projects involving many contributors at various times.” 972 F.3d at 1376.
`
`According to the Federal Circuit, the inventorship analysis can even be
`
`informed by a tribunal’s view of the evidence, thereby provoking a subsequent
`
`correction petition. See id. at 1376-78. The Egenera court eschewed suggestions
`
`that even a once-deleted party from the face of the patent should not be permitted
`
`to have his name added back after trial evidence established him to be an actual
`
`inventor. See id. It simply did not matter that contrary inventorship arguments were
`
`previously made. See id. Here too, Implicit was justified in correcting inventorship
`
`notwithstanding what it may have argued prior to the Board’s extensive factfinding
`
`regarding Mr. Carpenter and his contributions. See supra § II (3)-(5). On appeal,
`
`12
`
`

`

`Case IPR2018-00767
`Patent No. 8,942,252
`Sonos alleged that Implicit inconsistently argued during trial proceedings that Mr.
`
`Carpenter’s contributions were made merely as a company employee. See supra
`
`§ II (3)-(6); see Implicit, LLC v. Sonos, Inc., Nos. 20-1173, -1174, D.I. 79 at 3-4,
`
`15-16 (Fed. Cir. June 20, 2022) (Sonos reply brief). Sonos’s arguments miss the
`
`point: the subsequently filed corrections reflect the Board’s determinations, after a
`
`more “thorough consideration of the facts.” Patterson, 341 F.2d at 138. Implicit’s
`
`earlier statements to the contrary are immaterial. See Egenera, 972 F.3d at 1379
`
`(rejecting argument that “clearly inconsistent positions” precluded use of later
`
`§ 256 correction and explaining that after the court decided predicate questions, “it
`
`was entirely consistent for Egenera to request an accompanying formal correction
`
`of inventorship”).
`
`The corrections here are not improper and align with the very purpose of
`
`§ 256—to effect “title 35[’s] policy of seeking to reward the actual inventors of
`
`technological advances.” See id. at 1377 (citing Stark v. Advanced Magnetics, Inc.,
`
`119 F.3d 1551, 1554 (Fed. Cir. 1997)). The Board’s role in elucidating proper joint
`
`inventorship furthers this important policy goal.
`
`Moreover, this is a deserving and unique fact pattern—the primary reference
`
`for each and every ground of unpatentability was found to predate the effective
`
`filing date by just six days and the issue was central to the Board’s ultimate
`
`determination with a robust evidentiary record, invested parties, and several
`
`13
`
`

`

`Case IPR2018-00767
`Patent No. 8,942,252
`intermediate determinations. This case should be one to benefit from the
`
`congressional intent to reward actual inventors.
`
`3.
`
`Section 256 does not have a diligence requirement and does
`not preclude “considered acts” from its ambit.
`As further evidence of its intended liberality, § 256 “does not limit the time
`
`during which inventorship can be corrected” and “diligence is not a requirement to
`
`correct inventorship under section 256.” Stark, 119 F.3d at 1554; Stark v.
`
`Advanced Magnetics, Inc., 29 F.3d 1570, 1573 (Fed. Cir. 1994) (emphases added).
`
`Having no timeliness requirement makes sense given the complexity of
`
`inventorship questions, the difficulty of discovering errors years after filing
`
`applications, the procedural requirements to effect a formal change under 37 CFR
`
`§ 1.324, and the legal implication of doing so. See id. (by giving wide latitude on
`
`the timing of corrections, “[s]ection 256 thus serves the public policy of preserving
`
`property rights from avoidable forfeiture”). Despite Sonos’s protests with respect
`
`to timing throughout its briefs, the Federal Circuit still saw fit to remand this case
`
`for a substantive analysis “addressing what, if any, impact the certificate of
`
`correction has on its final written decision in this case.” Implicit, LLC v. Sonos,
`
`Inc., Nos. 20-1173, -1174, D.I. 85 (Fed. Cir. Nov. 9, 2022). There is no suggestion
`
`from the court that Implicit was not entitled to seek corrections when it did.
`
`Nor does characterizing this as a “considered act” by Implicit disqualify the
`
`corrections because of how they were sought. In fact, the AIA liberalized the
`
`14
`
`

`

`Case IPR2018-00767
`Patent No. 8,942,252
`application of § 256 even further, making inventorship corrections available in
`
`more circumstances. The Federal Circuit has explained that “the AIA did not
`
`narrow the meaning of ‘error.’ Accordingly, § 256 does not exclude ‘considered
`
`acts,’ or even ‘deceptive intention,’ from the meaning of ‘error.’” See Egenera,
`
`Inc., 972 F.3d at 1377; cf. 157 Cong. Rec. S1378 (daily ed. Mar. 8, 2011)
`
`(statement of Sen. Kyl) (“Eliminating the various deceptive-intent requirements
`
`moves the U.S. patent system away from the 19th century model that focused on
`
`the patent owner’s subjective intent, and towards a more objective-evidence-based
`
`system that will be much cheaper to litigate and more efficient to administer.”).
`
`IV. Conclusion
`For the foregoing reasons, the Board, respectfully, should issue an order:
`
`holding the certificates of inventorship correction have retroactive effect; finding
`
`the corrected inventive entity successfully antedates Janevski’s effective date on
`
`the record submitted; and reversing the outcome of its Final Written Decisions,
`
`specifically finding that all grounds relying on Janevski fail to demonstrate that the
`
`challenged claims in the ’791 and ’252 patents are unpatentable.
`
`Date: February 10, 2023
`
`
`
`
` Respectfully submitted,
`
`
`
`/Timothy P. McAnulty/
`Timothy P. McAnulty, Reg. No. 56,939
`FINNEGAN, HENDERSON, FARABOW,
` GARRETT & DUNNER, LLP
`Counsel for Patent Owner Implicit, LLC
`
`
`15
`
`

`

`CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE
`
`Case IPR2018-00767
`Patent No. 8,942,252
`
`The undersigned certifies that a copy of the foregoing PATENT OWNER
`
`IMPLICIT, LLC’S OPENING BRIEF PURSUANT TO REMAND FROM
`
`THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FEDERAL
`
`CIRCUIT was served electronically via email on February 10, 2023, in its entirety
`
`on the following:
`
`Rory P. Shea
`shea@ls3ip.com
`Cole B. Richter
`richter@ls3ip.com
`George I. Lee
`lee@ls3ip.com
`Michael P. Boyea
`boyea@ls3ip.com
`LEE SULLIVAN SHEA & SMITH LLP
`224 N. Desplaines St., Suite 250
`Chicago, IL 60661
`
`Petitioner has consented to service by electronic mail.
`
`
`
`
`
`/William Esper/
`William Esper
`Case Manager and PTAB Coordinator
`Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow,
` Garrett & Dunner, L.L.P.
`
`Dated: February 10, 2023
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`

This document is available on Docket Alarm but you must sign up to view it.


Or .

Accessing this document will incur an additional charge of $.

After purchase, you can access this document again without charge.

Accept $ Charge
throbber

Still Working On It

This document is taking longer than usual to download. This can happen if we need to contact the court directly to obtain the document and their servers are running slowly.

Give it another minute or two to complete, and then try the refresh button.

throbber

A few More Minutes ... Still Working

It can take up to 5 minutes for us to download a document if the court servers are running slowly.

Thank you for your continued patience.

This document could not be displayed.

We could not find this document within its docket. Please go back to the docket page and check the link. If that does not work, go back to the docket and refresh it to pull the newest information.

Your account does not support viewing this document.

You need a Paid Account to view this document. Click here to change your account type.

Your account does not support viewing this document.

Set your membership status to view this document.

With a Docket Alarm membership, you'll get a whole lot more, including:

  • Up-to-date information for this case.
  • Email alerts whenever there is an update.
  • Full text search for other cases.
  • Get email alerts whenever a new case matches your search.

Become a Member

One Moment Please

The filing “” is large (MB) and is being downloaded.

Please refresh this page in a few minutes to see if the filing has been downloaded. The filing will also be emailed to you when the download completes.

Your document is on its way!

If you do not receive the document in five minutes, contact support at support@docketalarm.com.

Sealed Document

We are unable to display this document, it may be under a court ordered seal.

If you have proper credentials to access the file, you may proceed directly to the court's system using your government issued username and password.


Access Government Site

We are redirecting you
to a mobile optimized page.





Document Unreadable or Corrupt

Refresh this Document
Go to the Docket

We are unable to display this document.

Refresh this Document
Go to the Docket