Just one day after oral argument on February 7, 2018, the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit issued a
Judgment in favor of Neustel’s client Inline Packaging involving Graphic Packaging’s appeal of the PTAB’s
IPR Decision (IPR2015‐01609) finding all 53 claims of
U.S. Patent No. 8,872,078 unpatentable.
U.S. Patent No. 8,872,078 is owned by Graphic Packaging International, Inc. and relates to technology used for microwave susceptor sleeves. Graphic Packaging had sued Inline Packaging for infringement of the ‘078 patent in U.S. Federal District Court over its alleged sale of microwave susceptor materials to Nestlé for use with certain HOT POCKETS® and/or LEAN CUISINE® branded food products. Neustel Law Offices represented the IPR Petitioner,
Inline Packaging, LLC, a small microwave susceptor packaging business with approximately 50 employees in Princeton, Minnesota in the successful IPR campaign and defending the IPR decision on appeal to the Federal Circuit.
UPDATE: There is a good
Law360 Article on the appeal decision on February 9, 2018.
On October 5, 2017, Neustel client Barco, Inc. was granted a stay in the Northern District of Illinois, on the basis of three petitions for Inter Partes review challenging all the asserted patents in the case. The case is T-Rex AB v. Barco, Inc., No. 1:16-cv-6938 (N.D. IL.). The IPR’s have not yet been instituted, but the stay follows the practice in the Northern District of Illinois liberally granting such stays when discovery and other matters in litigation have not progressed significantly toward trial. The challenged U.S. patents are RE39,470, 7,382,334, and 6,430,603, and relate to systems and methods for remotely displaying digital information, particularly for digital signage and advertising. Barco, Inc. is represented by Edward Runyan of Neustel Law Offices, LTD.
On August 3 & 4, 2017, on behalf of Barco, Inc., Neustel filed petitions for inter partes review on three patents owned and asserted in district court by T-Rex Property AB. The challenged patents are U.S. Patents RE39,470; 7,382,334; & 6,430,603. The patents all relate to systems for remotely controlling displays, with particular application to digital signage and advertising.
Law360 did a nice article regarding our
successful IPR challenge invalidating all 53 claims of U.S. Patent No. 8,872,078 which is a patent on microwave susceptor sleeves used with HOT POCKETS® food products.
Below is the initial portion of the article and a link to the full Law360 article:PTAB Zaps Patent Covering Hot Pockets Sleeves
Law360, New York (February 10, 2017, 7:04 PM EST) — The Patent Trial and Appeal Board invalidated as obvious a food packager’s patent covering cardboard sleeves that encase Hot Pockets and Lean Pockets freezer items, according to a recently unsealed decision. …
Read Entire Article.
On January 10, 2017, the PTAB issued a
Final Written Decision in an Inter Partes Review (IPR2015‐01609) finding all 53 claims of
U.S. Patent No. 8,872,078 unpatentable. The ‘078 patent is owned by Graphic Packaging International, Inc. and relates to technology used for microwave susceptor sleeves. Graphic Packaging had sued Inline Packaging for infringement of the ‘078 patent in U.S. Federal District Court over its alleged sale of microwave susceptor materials to Nestlé for use with certain HOT POCKETS® and/or LEAN CUISINE
® branded food products. Neustel Law Offices represented the IPR Petitioner,
Inline Packaging, LLC, a small microwave susceptor packaging business with approximately 50 employees in Princeton, Minnesota in the successful IPR campaign.