Collateral Agreements Must Be Filed, Patent Office Says (1)

Companies settling patent tribunal disputes must file certain “collateral agreements” even if they aren’t between the parties, the patent office said.

The Patent Trial and Appeal Board designated precedential a decision involving its termination of DTN LLC’s challenges to Farms Technology LLC’s commodity system patents. The parties have settled, and the Patent and Trademark Office tribunal ended the inter partes reviews.

But the PTAB, after reviewing the settlement agreement, scheduled a conference with the parties to discuss other collateral agreements, referenced in the settlement, and whether they needed to be filed.

“It’s a subject of debate with a lot of ...