Hulu Patent Bid Opens Doors for New Prior Art Precedent

A question that’s divided administrative law panels and courts will be taken up by a newly-designated precedent setting group at the Patent and Trademark Office.

The Precedential Opinion Panel (POP) April 3 said it would reconsider the Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s decision to deny Hulu LLC’s request for an administrative review of a Sound View Innovations, LLC patent involving data processing. Hulu had argued that Sound View Innovation’s patented method was obvious due to information in a textbook and therefore unpatentable. The PTAB had tossed Hulu’s challenge after finding that the copy textbook’s copyright date wasn’t enough to qualify ...