Patent Office Director Orders Second Look at Purdue Patent Case

US Patent and Trademark Office Director Kathi Vidal ordered an administrative tribunal to review its decision over a challenge to a Purdue University patent for a high-voltage semiconductor device, dismissing its finding that the prior art asserted was the same as that in a previously denied patent challenge.

Vidal vacated the Patent and Trial Appeal Board’s decision to deny institution in electronic company Wolfspeed Inc.'s request for “inter partes review” before the board challenging several claims in the Trustees of Purdue University’s US Patent No. 7,498,633 B2.

The PTO director found on review that the PTAB erred in deciding ...