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 directed to 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 in district court invalidity contentions filed one week after institution that the same 'controller' claims are indefinite means-plus-function limitations under § 112(f)—without adequate explanation, in violation of 37 C.F.R. § 42.104(b)(3) and the Director's precedential Revvo and informative Tesla decisions. The Director exercised discretionary authority under § 314(a) to deny institution, reasoning that such strategic inconsistency undermines the integrity of the patent system and that institution would not have been granted had this conduct occurred pre-institution.