Zaxcom Seeks Review of Factoring Product Praise in Patent Trial

Audio equipment maker Zaxcom is appealing a patent office tribunal’s invalidation of its patent claims, arguing that awards for its technology should have been considered more heavily.

The Patent Trial and Appeal Board in November invalidated claims in Zaxcom’s 9,336,307 patent because the tribunal deemed them obvious in light of prior art. The Patent and Trademark Office tribunal allowed Zaxcom to amend the patent and introduce new claims.

Patent owners sometimes argue that secondary considerations like industry praise mean that their invention wasn’t too obvious to deserve a patent. But for courts and the PTAB to give secondary considerations substantial ...