U. S. PATENT NO. 9,153,835
`Petition for Inter Partes Review
`
`UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
`____________________________________________
`
`BEFORE THE PATENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD
`
`____________________________________________
`
`Eve Energy Co., Ltd.
`Petitioner
`
`v.
`
`Varta Microbattery Gmbh
`Patent Owner
`
`Case No. IPR2022-01484
`
`PETITION FOR INTER PARTES REVIEW OF
`U.S. PATENT NO. 9,153,835
`
`Claims 14-25
`
`VARTA Ex. 2008 Page 1 of 5
`EVE Energy v. VARTA
`IPR2022-1484
`
`
`Petition for Inter Partes Review
`
`UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
`____________________________________________
`
`BEFORE THE PATENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD
`
`____________________________________________
`
`Eve Energy Co., Ltd.
`Petitioner
`
`v.
`
`Varta Microbattery Gmbh
`Patent Owner
`
`Case No. IPR2022-01484
`
`PETITION FOR INTER PARTES REVIEW OF
`U.S. PATENT NO. 9,153,835
`
`Claims 14-25
`
`VARTA Ex. 2008 Page 1 of 5
`EVE Energy v. VARTA
`IPR2022-1484
`
`
`
`U. S. PATENT NO. 9,153,835
`Petition for Inter Partes Review
`the positive electrode case and the electrode group, between the negative electrode
`
`case and the electrode group, or both.” Ex1004, [0019], FIG. 1.
`
`See Ex1002, ¶¶143-145.
`
`(k) Obviousness Over Kobayashi, Kaun, and Brenner
`Kobayashi, Brenner, and Kaun all relate to button cells with a spiral wound
`
`electrode assembly. See Ex1004, [0008]; Ex1023, [0017], [0091].
`
`Instead of beading, Kaun uses an insert molded gasket placed between
`
`housing top 28p and cup 28n to provide a gas-tight seal. Ex1023, [0116]. As
`
`discussed above, Kaun provides a sealing mechanism that closes the button cell
`
`without being beaded over (no portion of housing cup 28n edge being deformed or
`
`crimped radially inward). Supra §VI.A.1.f. Using insulator/gasket 32 allows for
`
`sealing of the button cell using a housing cup whose edge remains essentially
`
`perpendicular to its flat bottom area. Ex1023, FIG. 7.
`
`As can be seen clearly in Figure 1 of Kobayashi (annotated below), a
`
`36
`
`VARTA Ex. 2008 Page 2 of 5
`
`
`
`U. S. PATENT NO. 9,153,835
`Petition for Inter Partes Review
`significant portion of the available space within the cell is reduced by the process of
`
`crimping the cell closed. The process of crimping the cell closed can require
`
`significant extra space for the cell housing, but such space cannot be used for active
`
`materials, thus reducing the overall capacity of the cell.
`
`Because of the unbeading nature of Kaun’s sealing mechanism, Kaun
`
`increases the effective volume and capacity within the cell housing. The increased
`
`volume allows for a corresponding increase to the number of electrode layers in the
`
`electrode assembly of Kobayashi and Brenner, which would improve energy density
`
`of the cell. As such, a POSITA would have been further motivated to combine the
`
`cell taught in Kobayashi with the unbeaded sealing mechanism of Kaun to improve
`
`the energy density of the cell. A POSITA, therefore, would have been motivated to
`
`use the unbeaded sealing mechanism taught in Kaun to seal the cell housing of
`
`Kobayashi. See KSR, 550 U.S. at 400 (“mere application of a known technique to a
`
`37
`
`VARTA Ex. 2008 Page 3 of 5
`
`
`
`U. S. PATENT NO. 9,153,835
`Petition for Inter Partes Review
`piece of prior art ready for the improvement” supports a conclusion of obviousness).
`
`Such modifications would have been well within the skill of a POSITA.
`
`Furthermore, a POSITA would have understood that the expansion of the
`
`electrode mainly causes radial forces. See Ex1007 (Higuchi), p.4; Ex1023 (Kaun)
`
`at [0062]. As a result, crimping would not be needed since it is not necessary to
`
`crimp in the axial direction for constraint. The quality of the curled edge can then
`
`be omitted so as to improve the energy density.
`
`A POSITA would have known that using metal foils that are connected to the
`
`positive and negative electrodes before the priority date of the ’835 patent. See
`
`Ex1020 (Arai), Ex1021 (Okochi). The metal foils are configured such that they rest
`
`flat between an end face of the spiral winding and the flat top or bottom of the
`
`housing to which it is connected. Using metal foils to replace 4a and 4b to connect
`
`the electrodes to the housing would have helped the goal of maximizing the use of
`
`the interior volume of the housing, reduced the weight of the battery, and thus
`
`increased the energy density of the battery, as known to a POSITA. Thus, a POSITA
`
`would have found that using the metal foils is within the knowledge of a POSITA,
`
`and substituting metal foils would have involved the simple substitution of one
`
`known element for another to obtain predictable results. KSR at 401.
`
`For the overlapping area as discussed above, there is good sealing due to the
`
`force-fitting connection. For non-overlapping area near the edge of the overlapping
`
`38
`
`VARTA Ex. 2008 Page 4 of 5
`
`
`
`U. S. PATENT NO. 9,153,835
`Petition for Inter Partes Review
`area (as seen below in red) that includes insulation (pink), there will likely be sealing
`
`and leakage issues.
`
`Brenner discloses
`
`that
`
`indentation 104 would
`
`improve
`
`the sealing
`
`characteristics of cup 105 and top 101 in this area by allowing radial pressure to be
`
`exerted, which is exactly what is needed to address the leakage and sealing issue as
`
`discussed above. Ex1005, [0030]. It would be natural and obvious for a POSITA to
`
`improve radial sealing in button cells closed without being beaded over by looking
`
`to Brenner to improve the sealing characteristics and leakage behavior.
`
`Given both Kobayashi with the modification of Kaun and Brenner are in the
`
`same field using similar technology and structure, substituting the relevant structure
`
`in Kobayashi with the modification of Kaun with the slightly “radially inward”
`
`structure in Brenner would have involved the simple substitution of one known
`
`element for another to obtain predictable results. KSR at 401.
`
`See Ex1002, ¶¶146-160.
`
`2.
`
`Claim 15
`
`39
`
`VARTA Ex. 2008 Page 5 of 5
`
`
Accessing this document will incur an additional charge of $.
After purchase, you can access this document again without charge.
Accept $ Charge
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.
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.
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
