Case: Patents/Obviousness (Fed. Cir.)

The Patent and Trial Appeal Board should have considered Airbus S.A.S.'s record of evidence when it examined whether new claims in Firepass Corp.'s patent were covered by prior technology, the Federal Circuit finds. Airbus challenged claims of Firepass’s patent for its fire prevention and suppression system that prevents and extinguishes fires using breathable air instead of water, foam, or toxic chemicals, asserting that a prior patent for a hypoxic room system and equipment for hypoxic training and therapy at standard atmospheric pressure would render the claims obvious. The court agrees with the patent board’s finding that the other patent’s title, ...