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Reexamination Practice with Concurrent District Court Litigation Or Section 337 USITC Investigations The Sedona Conference Journal Volume 11 2010 Reexamination Practice with Concurrent District Court Litigation or Section 337 USITC Investigations Robert Greene Sterne, Jon E. Wright, Lori A Gordon & Byron L. Pickard Recommended Citation: Robert Greene Sterne et al., Reexamination Practice with Concurrent District Court Litigation or Section 337 USITC Investigations, 11 SEDONA CONF. J. 1 (2010). Copyright 2010, The Sedona Conference Copyright 2010, Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox, P.L.L.C. For this and additional publications see: https://thesedonaconference.org/publications 2010 THE SEDONA CONFERENCE JOURNAL ®1 REEXAMINATION PRACTICE WITH CONCURRENT DISTRICT COURT LITIGATION OR SECTION 337 USITC INVESTIGATIONS Robert Greene Sterne, Jon E. Wright, Lori A. Gordon & Byron L. Pickar d 1 Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox, P.L.L.C. Washington, DC AUTHORS ’ N OTE Patent reexamination was first selected as a topic for presentation at The Sedona Conference® on Patent Litigation in 2006. Version 1 of this paper was first published as part of that conference. The Sedona Conference’s® on Patent Litigation in 2007, 2008 and 2009 each addressed reexamination and concurrent patent litigation, and subsequent versions of this paper accompanied those Sedona dialogues. Other versions accompanied presentations made at ACPC, IPO and PLI Conferences. Now in Version XI, it will accompany the Sedona dialogue on this topic that will take place on October 21, 2010, at the Sedona Patent Litigation Conference XI (2010). 2 In all versions, the authors address current procedure, process, and cutting-edge topics in reexamination practice and concurrent litigation. This paper subscribes to a neutral Swiss approach of presenting all sides of an issue and does not advocate for any particular view so that discussion may ensue. Many have provided comments and information for this article, including judges, senior officials from the PTO, Congressional staffers, patent owners, patent litigators, patent prosecutors, academics, bloggers and interested members of the public. Moreover, the authors devote substantial portions of their practices to reexaminations on behalf of patent owners and third party requesters and are on the editorial board of the foremost Internet site on reexamination, The Reexamination Center (www.reexamcenter.com). However, the views expressed herein are for purposes of dialogue and do not necessarily reflect the individual views of the authors. 1 Version 11. Copyright 2010 by The Sedona Conference® and Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox P.L.L.C ., (SKGF). All Rights Reserved. The authors thank Pauline Pelletier of their firm for the in-depth reexamination data research that is included in this version of the article. 2 http://www.thesedonaconference.org/conferences/20101021 . 2REEXAMINATION PRACTICE WITH CONCURRENT LITIGATION VOL . XI TABLE OF CONTENTS I. Introduction .............................................................................................................. 4 II. Hot Topics and New Developments .......................................................................... 6 A. Reexamination Pendency ........................................................................ 6 B. Litigation Stays ...................................................................................... 9 C. Protective Orders .................................................................................. 10 D. Substantial New Questions of Patentability .......................................... 11 E. Post-Grant Review Proposals ................................................................ 13 F. Multiple PTO Proceedings Involving the Same Patent - Merger and its Impact on Reexamination Proceedings ................................................ 14 G. Appeals of Inter Partes Reexaminations to BPAI and Federal Circuit .... 16 H. Impact of Reexamination on Remedies ................................................ 17 I. Impact of Reexamination and Court Decisions on Stock Price ............ 20 J. Impact of Settlement Agreements on Inter Partes Reexamination .......... 22 K. Impact of Reexamination on Willfulness and Inequitable Conduct. .... 23 L. Retained Reexamination Experts .......................................................... 24 III. The Parallel Universes Examined ............................................................................ 25 A. Scope of Proceedings ............................................................................ 25 B. Standard of Review .............................................................................. 26 C. Claim Construction .............................................................................. 26 D. Decision Makers .................................................................................. 27 E. District Court v. Central Reexamination Unit ...................................... 27 F. Cumulative Effect ................................................................................ 28 IV. Reexamination Strategy Considerations When Litigation is Threatened or Pending .............................................................................................................. 28 A. Reexamination Pendency ...................................................................... 28 1. Pendency before the CRU .............................................................. 29 2. Pendency before the BPAI .............................................................. 31 3. Pendency conclusion ........................................................................ 32 B. Settlement ............................................................................................ 33 C. Litigation Stays .................................................................................... 33 D. Protective Orders .................................................................................. 36 1. Scope of the Duty of Disclosure in a Reexamination Proceeding .... 37 2. Considerations for Crafting a Protective Order ................................ 38 2010 THE SEDONA CONFERENCE JOURNAL ®3 3. Handling Conflicting Duties .......................................................... 38 4. Submission of Evidence Supporting Patentability ............................ 39 E. Impact on Trial .................................................................................... 40 F. Damages .............................................................................................. 40 G. Potential risks for accused infringers .................................................... 41 H. Timing of Reexamination Requests – When to File? ............................ 42 I. Multiple Ex Parte Reexamination Requests .......................................... 44 J. Additional Strategic Questions to Consider .......................................... 45 1. Withholding of prior art .................................................................. 45 2. Experts’ independence .................................................................... 46 3. Privilege issues ................................................................................ 46 4. Fast courts versus slow courts .......................................................... 46 5. Cases with multiple defendants ...................................................... 47 6. The judge’s perception of reexamination requests ............................ 48 7. Impact on laches .............................................................................. 48 8. Duty of Disclosure .......................................................................... 48 V. Basic Reexamination Practice .................................................................................. 51 A. Generally .............................................................................................. 51 B. The Request and the SNQ .................................................................. 52 1. The substantial new question (“SNQ”) generally ............................ 52 2. In re Swanson and the SNQ ............................................................ 53 3. KSR and the SNQ .......................................................................... 53 C. Impact of KSR on Reexamination Practice .......................................... 55 D. Ex Parte Reexamination ........................................................................ 56 E. Director-Initiated Ex Parte Reexamination ............................................ 57 F. Inter Partes Reexamination .................................................................. 57 1. Generally ........................................................................................ 57 2. Estoppels in inter partes reexamination .......................................... 58 3. Real Party in Interest ...................................................................... 59 G. Mergers of Concurrent Proceedings ...................................................... 60 1. Merger of Co-Pending Reexaminations .......................................... 60 2. Merger of Co-Pending Reissue Applications and Reexaminations .... 61 H. Extensions of Time .............................................................................. 62 I. Page Limits For Inter Partes Reexamination Papers .............................. 63 4REEXAMINATION PRACTICE WITH CONCURRENT LITIGATION VOL . XI J. Evidence Considerations ...................................................................... 64 VI. Central Reexamination Unit (CRU) Improves Quality and Reduces
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