by Dennis Crouch
In a short nonprecedential decision, the Federal Circuit affirmed a PTAB IPR decision finding claims 15-25 of U.S. Patent No. 8,671,132 ('132 patent) unpatentable under 35 U.S.C. § 103 over combinations of prior art references. Daedalus Blue LLC v. Vidal, No. 2023-1313, slip op. at 2 (Fed. Cir. Mar. 13, 2024). The key issue on appeal was whether the Gelb reference qualified as analogous art for the purposes of the obviousness analysis. Daedalus unsuccessfully argued that the PTAB erred in two respects: (1) by finding Gelb to be in the same field of endeavor as the '132 patent, and (2) by determining that Gelb is reasonably pertinent to the problems addressed by the '132 patent. This post discusses the analogous arts test and provides key guidance to patent attorneys in today's post-AIA world.
