Smart Thermostat Makers Ax Patent on Appeal Due to Obviousness

Causam Enterprises Inc. convinced the Federal Circuit it owns the patent it’s asserted against a number of smart thermostat makers at the US International Trade Commission, but failed to persuade the appeals court that key claims from the patent are valid.

An ITC administrative law judge erred in finding Causam didn’t own US Patent No. 10,394,268, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled in a precedential opinion issued Wednesday. But the appeals court also upheld a Patent Trial and Appeal Board ruling that asserted claims of the ‘268 patent were invalid due to being obvious in ...