Case: Patents/Procedure (Fed. Cir.)

The Federal Circuit reversed in part, vacated in part, and remanded the decision of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board that Apple Inc. failed to prove that challenged claims of Smart Mobile Technologies LLC’s patents that relate to a mobile device that is dynamically software configurable for a variety of environments are unpatentable as obvious over prior art. According to the court, the elements of issue preclusion are satisfied as to the representative claim, but the board didn’t separately address the dependent claims. And the court said that the board’s claim construction wasn’t erroneous.