Apple Wireless Patent Wins at Board Erased by Vidal, Redo on Tap

Apple Inc.'s administrative wins canceling claims across two patents it had been accused of infringing were undone by US Patent and Trademark Office Director Kathi Vidal in a decision made public on Wednesday.

In a precedential order, Vidal vacated the Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s decisions determining that the owner of the patents, Zipit Wireless Inc., had declined to defend its patents after the PTAB instituted “inter partes” reviews. Zipit told the PTAB that it wouldn’t oppose four of Apple’s six petitions if the board determined that Apple’s claims had enough proof to sustain its challenges.

Vidal said in her ...