Apple Inc. v. WeCrevention, Inc.
Patent Trial and Appeal Board
Holding
The Director denied institution of Apple’s IPR petition against the ’098 patent in the high-speed memory-module technology area under § 314(a) discretionary authority. The denial turned on Apple’s unexplained inconsistent claim-construction positions between PTAB and district court for the “input/output unit” limitation under § 112(f), which the Director found problematic under Revvo and Infineon; no prior Board institution decision was reversed.
Why It Matters
The decision reinforces that petitioners must present and apply a single, consistent claim-construction position across PTAB and parallel litigation, or provide a cogent explanation for any divergence. Strategic hedging on § 112(f) structure or indefiniteness can support discretionary denial before the merits are reached.
- Written description, enablement and indefiniteness (§ 112) →
- Anticipation and prior art (§ 102) →
- Obviousness (§ 103) →
- Claim construction →
- PTAB discretionary denial →
- PTAB Director Review →
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