Terumo BCT, Inc. v. Haemonetics Corporation

Holding

The Director granted Patent Owner Haemonetics's request for Director Review, vacated the Board's institution notices, and denied institution of IPR2025-01374 (U.S. Patent 11,738,124) and IPR2025-01391 (U.S. Patent 10,758,652), both involving blood-processing device technology. The Director found that Petitioner Terumo BCT took inconsistent claim construction positions—arguing 'plain and ordinary meaning' for the 'controller' term in its IPR petitions while simultaneously asserting § 112(f) means-plus-function indefiniteness for the same term in district court invalidity contentions filed one week after institution—without adequate explanation, in violation of 37 C.F.R. § 42.104(b)(3) and contrary to the Director's precedential Revvo and informative Tesla decisions. The Director exercised discretion to deny institution, reasoning that had this strategic litigation conduct occurred before institution, the IPRs would never have been instituted.