PTO Director Revives Volvo Marine Unit’s Patent Challenge Bids

US Patent and Trademark Office Director Kathi Vidal breathed new life into five patent challenges filed by Volvo Penta of the Americas LLC that previously appeared to be dead in the water.

Vidal in a decision released Tuesday, reversed the agency’s Patent Trial and Appeal Board, which had previously declined to institute inter partes review of five patents belonging to a rival marine engine maker, Brunswick Corp., on grounds that a parallel lawsuit filed by Brunswick over the same patents had been dismissed.

Vidal noted that an appeal of the lawsuit was pending, and directed the tribunal to reconsider ...