Patent on Lidar Technology for Autonomous Cars Upheld on Appeal

The Patent Trial and Appeal Board properly relied on real-world evidence that a patent covering a lidar system for measuring distances wasn’t invalid, the Federal Circuit held.

The board rejected Quanergy Systems Inc.'s arguments that parts of its competitor Velodyne Lidar USA Inc.'s U.S. Patent No. 7,969,558 were obvious. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit upheld that ruling on appeal in a precedential opinion.

The laser-based system described by the patent is useful for a number of purposes but “is best known for helping autonomous cars sense their surroundings,” the court said.

Quanergy challenged Velodyne’s patent ...