Gas Patent Challenge Nixed After Missing One-Year Deadline (1)

There are no exceptions to the one-year deadline for filing an administrative patent challenge, even when the triggering infringement complaint is dismissed, a federal appeals court ruled.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit reversed a Patent Trial and Appeal Board ruling that the deadline didn’t apply to Atlanta Gas Light Co.’s 2015 attack on Bennett Regulator Guards Inc.'s patent.

Bennett alleged in a lawsuit that Atlanta Gas infringed its U.S. Patent No. 5, 810,029, covering an anti-icing device to regulate natural gas pressure. The lawsuit was dismissed in 2012. Atlanta Gas then challenged the patent’s validity ...