“Patent Troll” Loses Appeal

The appeal filed by MPHJ against the invalidation of its scan patents has been refused.

According to WirthConsultig.org the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit Court held the verdict on the case of MPHJ Technology Investments, LLC, Appellant v. Ricoh Americas Corporation, Xerox Corporation, Lexmark International. In the case, the three OEMs requested Inter Partes Review of claims 1-8 of the U.S. Patent No. 8,488,173 (‘173).

The U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) found that claims 1-8 anticipated by the Xerox Network Systems Architecture General Information Manual dated April 1985 (“XNS”), which features in Xerox 150 Graphic Input Station Operator and Reference Manual dated January 1985 (“GIS 150”). The PTAB also found claims 1–8 anticipated by U.S. Patent No. 5,513,126 to Harkins, and/or obvious in view of the combination of Harkins and U.S. Patent No. 5,818,603 to Motoyama.

The court wrote, according to WirthConsulting.org, “the PTAB instituted review, construed the claims, conducted a hearing, and held the claims unpatentable based on several prior art references.” The result affirms that the scan patents of MPHJ are unpatentable.

In 2014, RT Media reported that Ricoh Americas, Xerox and Lexmark jointly filed two actions at the United States Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO). The actions against MPHJ included Inter Partes Review of U.S. Patent No. 8,488,173 and certain claims of U.S. Patent No. 7,477,410. The OEM claimed that the technology had been used by MFPs marketed before the patents had been issued to MPHJ. Eight of MPHJ’s scan patents were ruled unpatentable by the board on August 19, 2015.

Back in 2013, Ricoh and Xerox had asked for nullifying U.S. Patent No. 7,986,426 and helped disable MPHJ’s licensing campaign.

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