Samsung Loses Appeal Over Power2B Touch-Interface Patents

A divided Federal Circuit upheld an administrative tribunal’s rulings that preserved two of Power2B Inc.’s touch-interface patents, finding the board reasonably treated Samsung Electronics Co.’s revised obviousness theory as a forfeited new ground.

The Patent Trial and Appeal Board had ruled that Samsung’s requests to review the validity of US Patent Nos. 10,664,070 and 9,946,369 relied on an inoperable combination of prior art, and that the company’s later explanation—offered for the first time in reply papers—was a new theory that couldn’t be considered. The board acted within its discretion in reading the petitions as excluding a “planar element” central to ...