PTAB Invalidates Kioba Processing Patent per Askeladden’s Request
For Immediate Release:
Date: March 25, 2024
Contact: Press@patentqualityinitiative.com
This week, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) issued two final written decisions in related inter partes review (IPR) proceedings of U.S. Patent No. 7,110,792, related to modules used with mobile devices to perform smartcard transactions. The PTAB concluded the patents were unpatentable.
Askeladden’s Patent Challenge Committee—a group of well-respected experts in the area of patent law—chose to petition the PTAB for review of the ’792 patent as part of the Patent Quality Initiative. In two petitions, Askelladen explained how the claims of the ’792 patent were anticipated and rendered obvious by the prior art.
The PTAB based its decision on the grounds identified by Askeladden’s petitions, concluding they provided “ample evidentiary support in the disclosures of the prior art” to invalidate the patents. Accordingly, the PTAB determined that Askeladden had established, by a preponderance of the evidence, that all of the challenged claims were unpatentable.
The challenged patent, assigned to Kioba Processing, LLC, had previously been asserted in many patent infringement lawsuits against several different financial services companies.
Sean Reilly, General Counsel for Askeladden, stated: “We are not surprised by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s decision holding that the claims of the ’792 patent were unpatentable. These claims were well known in the art and should never have been issued.”
Askeladden was represented by Amster Rothstein & Ebenstein LLP in the IPRs.
About the Patent Quality Initiative
Askeladden is an education, information and advocacy organization with the goal of improving the understanding, use and reliability of patents in financial services and other industries. As part of its Patent Quality Initiative, Askeladden strives to promote better patents and patent holder behaviors by regularly filing amicus briefs, Inter Partes Reviews (IPRs) and engaging in educational activities.