Patent Office Tackles Time-Bar Confusion With New Precedent

The Patent and Trademark Office has designated as precedential its decision to stop a patent validity review last year because a water technology company missed the deadline for filing a challenge after being sued.

The Patent Trial and Appeal Board had held that a federal lawsuit dismissed without prejudice for lack of personal jurisdiction still triggers the one-year time bar for Infiltrator Water Technologies LLC to challenge Presby Patent Trust’s patent for a fluid conduit. The board vacated its decision to institute trial in October 2018 and terminated the administrative proceeding.

The decision, one of two the agency designated as ...