Law360 reported on a ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit that affirmed Patent Trial and Appeal Board decisions upholding the validity of an Ericsson patent covering a system for controlling software in mobile devices.
A team of Haynes and Boone, LLP Partners J. Andrew Lowes, Clint S. Wilkins and Debra J. McComas represent Ericsson in the case, which involves U.S. Patent Number 7,149,510.
According to the Law360 report, the appeals court on March 13 issued a summary order without a written explanation, affirming a series of 2017 PTAB decisions that went against TCL Communication Technology Holdings Ltd., which challenged Ericsson’s patent.
The patent covers a method for limiting a mobile application's access to a mobile device's native functions, Law360 reported. TCL, a Chinese mobile phone maker, filed petitions with the PTAB seeking inter partes review of various claims in the patent after it was sued for infringement in early 2015. The board held that TCL had not shown the challenged claims would have been obvious.
Chief Judge Sharon Prost, Senior Circuit Judge Raymond Charles Clevenger III and Circuit Judge Richard Linn sat on the Federal Circuit panel.
The patent at issue in the inter partes review is at the center of a dispute in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas.
Excerpted from Law360. To read the full article, click here. (Subscription required)