BMW, Mercedes Score Patent Board Review of Software Invention

BMW of North American LLC and Mercedes-Benz USA LLC convinced a U.S. Patent and Trademark Office tribunal to review a vehicle software patent owned by a company suing them for infringement.

The Patent Trial and Appeal Board rejected petitions to review five other related patents owned by Stragent LLC because the challenges are based on arguments the board has already rejected.

The decisions are part of an ongoing dispute in federal court and at the board between Stragent and the car companies over a family of patents on distributed control and monitoring systems.

The board granted BMW and Mercedes’s petition ...