Gas Patent Invalidity Upheld, Sanction Award Sent Back for Tally

A patent office tribunal properly canceled a gas pressure device patent but needs to quantify the sanctions award it imposed, the Federal Circuit said Monday.

The Patent Trial and Appeal Board invalidated Bennett Regulator Guards Inc.'s U.S. Patent No. 5,810,029, on an anti-icing device to regulate natural gas pressure, as anticipated and obvious. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit overturned the decision in 2018, finding the board never should have instituted review of the patent.

The Supreme Court undid that Federal Circuit ruling in April in light of its holding in Thryv Inc. v. Click-To-Call Technologies ...