VIRNETX INC., Petitioner
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Case: 16-119 Document: 31 Page: 1 Filed: 03/17/2016 No. 2016-119 IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FEDERAL CIRCUIT _______________ IN RE VIRNETX INC., Petitioner. _______________ On Petition for a Writ of Mandamus to the United States Patent and Trademark Office, Patent Trial and Appeal Board in Nos. IPR2015-01046 & IPR2015-01047. _______________ REPLY IN SUPPORT OF PETITION FOR A WRIT OF MANDAMUS _______________ Naveen Modi Joseph E. Palys Igor V. Timofeyev PAUL HASTINGS LLP 875 15th St., N.W. Washington, D.C. 20005 (202) 551-1700 March 17, 2016 Counsel for Petitioner VirnetX Inc. Case: 16-119 Document: 31 Page: 2 Filed: 03/17/2016 CERTIFICATE OF INTEREST Pursuant to Federal Circuit Rule 47.4, counsel of record for Petitioner VirnetX Inc. certify as follows: 1. The full name of every party or amicus represented by us is: VirnetX Inc. 2. The name of the real party in interest represented by us is: VirnetX Inc. 3. All parent corporations and any publicly held companies that own 10 percent or more of the stock of the party or amicus curiae represented by us are: VirnetX Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of VirnetX Holding Corporation (“VHC”). VHC’s stock is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange. 4. The names of all law firms and the partners or associates that appeared for the parties represented by us in the trial court, or are expected to appear in this Court, are: Paul Hastings LLP: Naveen Modi, Joseph E. Palys, Igor V. Timofeyev, Srikala P. Atluri*, and Daniel Zeilberger Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett, & Dunner, LLP: Jason Stach *no longer with the Firm Dated: March 17, 2016 /s/Naveen Modi Naveen Modi Counsel for Petitioner VirnetX Inc. Case: 16-119 Document: 31 Page: 3 Filed: 03/17/2016 TABLE OF CONTENTS I. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................. 1 II. ARGUMENT ..................................................................................................... 2 A. This Court’s Precedents Do Not Bar Mandamus Review of the Board’s Construction of Its Joinder Authority .......................................... 2 B. VirnetX Has a Clear and Indisputable Right to Relief .............................. 8 1. The Plain Statutory Text Prohibits Joinder of a Time- Barred Petitioner ............................................................................... 8 2. Neither Apple Nor the PTO Rebut the Legislative History ............ 11 3. Deference to the PTO Is Inappropriate in This Case ...................... 13 4. This Court’s Achates Decision Does Not Preclude VirnetX’s Interpretation .................................................................. 13 C. VirnetX Has No Other Way of Obtaining Relief .................................... 14 III. CONCLUSION ................................................................................................ 15 i Case: 16-119 Document: 31 Page: 4 Filed: 03/17/2016 TABLE OF AUTHORITIES Page(s) Cases A.H. Phillips, Inc. v. Walling, 324 U.S. 490 (1945) .............................................................................................. 9 Achates Reference Publishing, Inc. v. Apple Inc., 803 F.3d 652 (Fed. Cir. 2015) .....................................................................passim Artuz v. Bennett, 531 U.S. 4 (2000) ................................................................................................ 11 Cent. Virginia Cmty. Coll. v. Katz, 546 U.S. 356 (2006) ............................................................................................ 14 In re EMC Corp., 677 F.3d 1351 (Fed. Cir. 2012) ............................................................................ 8 Harmonic, Inc. v. Avid Technology, Inc., No. 2015-1072, 2016 WL 798192 (Fed. Cir. Mar. 1, 2016) ................................ 7 Heino v. Shinseki, 683 F.3d 1372 (Fed. Cir. 2012) .......................................................................... 13 Loughrin v. United States, 134 S. Ct. 2384 (2014) .......................................................................................... 9 MCM Portfolio LLC v. Hewlett-Packard Co., No. 2015-1091, 2015 WL 7755665 (Fed. Cir. Dec. 2, 2015) .............................. 3 Oshkosh Truck Corp. v. United States, 123 F.3d 1477 (Fed. Cir. 1997) .......................................................................... 13 In re Procter & Gamble, 749 F.3d 1376 (Fed. Cir. 2014) .................................................................... 2, 4, 7 Synopsys, Inc. v. Mentor Graphics Corp., Nos. 2014-1516 & -1530, 2016 WL 520236 (Fed. Cir. Feb. 10, 2016) ..................................................................................................................... 3 ii Case: 16-119 Document: 31 Page: 5 Filed: 03/17/2016 In re TS Tech USA Corp., 551 F.3d 1315 (Fed. Cir. 2008) ............................................................................ 8 In re Volkswagen, Inc., 545 F.3d 304 (5th Cir. 2008) ................................................................................ 2 Adminstrative Decisions Apple Inc. v. VirnetX, Inc., IPR2013-00348, Paper No. 6 (P.T.A.B. Aug. 14, 2013) ...................................... 6 Apple Inc. v. VirnetX, Inc., IPR2013-00348, Paper No. 7 (P.T.A.B. Aug. 21, 2013) ...................................... 6 Cisco Sys., Inc. v. Straight Path IP Group, Inc., IPR2015-01398, Paper No. 10 (P.T.A.B. Nov. 10, 2015) .................................... 5 Cisco Sys., Inc. v. Straight Path IP Group, Inc., IPR2015-01398, Paper No. 9 (P.T.A.B. Nov. 10, 2015) ...................................... 5 Fujitsu Semiconductor Ltd. v. Zond, LLC, IPR2014-00859, Paper No. 11 (P.T.A.B. Nov. 18, 2014) .................................... 5 Fujitsu Semiconductor Ltd. v. Zond, LLC, IPR2014-00859, Paper No. 12 (P.T.A.B. Nov. 18, 2014) .................................... 5 HM Elecs., Inc. v. 3M Innovative Properties Co., IPR2015-00482, Paper No. 12 (P.T.A.B. July 14, 2015) ..................................... 4 Nissan North America, Inc. v. Diamond Coating Techs., LLC, IPR2014-01548, Paper No. 22 (P.T.A.B. April 21, 2015) ................................... 5 Nissan North America, Inc. v. Diamond Coating Techs., LLC, IPR2014-01548, Paper No. 31 (P.T.A.B. May 28, 2015) .................................... 5 Target Corp. v. Destination Maternity Corp., IPR2014-00508, Paper No. 31 (P.T.A.B. Feb. 12, 2015) ..................................... 5 Target Corp. v. Destination Maternity Corp., IPR2014-00508, Paper No. 32 (P.T.A.B. Feb. 12, 2015) ..................................... 5 Statutes 35 U.S.C. § 311 .................................................................................................. 10, 11 iii Case: 16-119 Document: 31 Page: 6 Filed: 03/17/2016 35 U.S.C. § 312(a) ................................................................................................... 10 35 U.S.C. § 312(b) ................................................................................................... 10 35 U.S.C. § 313 ........................................................................................................ 10 35 U.S.C. § 314(a) ............................................................................................... 4, 10 35 U.S.C. § 314(b) ................................................................................................... 10 35 U.S.C. § 314(d) ............................................................................................... 7, 14 35 U.S.C. § 315(a)(1) ................................................................................................. 5 35 U.S.C. § 315(b) ............................................................................................passim 35 U.S.C. § 315(c) ............................................................................................passim 35 U.S.C. § 316(a)(12) ............................................................................................. 12 Rules and Regulations 37 C.F.R. § 42.122(b) .............................................................................................. 12 Other Authorities 154 Cong. Rec. S9988 (daily ed. Sept. 27, 2008) .................................................... 11 iv Case: 16-119 Document: 31 Page: 7 Filed: 03/17/2016 I. INTRODUCTION VirnetX Inc. (“VirnetX”) demonstrated a clear and indisputable right to relief that cannot be obtained through other adequate means. The statutory scheme, 35 U.S.C. § 315(b)-(c), unambiguously prohibits the joinder of Apple Inc.’s (“Apple’s”) time-barred petitions to existing inter partes review proceedings. This Court’s precedents do not preclude mandamus review of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s (“the Board’s”) construction of its statutory joinder authority. VirnetX does not currently seek review of the Board’s decision to institute Apple’s petitions; VirnetX seeks review of the Board’s decision to join these time-barred petitions to the already instituted proceedings. Nor does VirnetX’s current request implicate the merits of the Board’s institution decision. And unlike Achates Reference Publishing, Inc. v. Apple Inc., 803 F.3d 652 (Fed. Cir. 2015), VirnetX’s challenge is not to the Board’s case-specific assessment of whether Apple’s petitions are time-barred, as there is no dispute that they are. In fact, Achates does not foreclose a challenge to the Board’s erroneous construction of 35 U.S.C. § 315(b). As to the merits, VirnetX’s construction is the only one that comports with the statutory text, history, and purpose. The plain language