Spero v. Volkswagen Group of America, Inc.

Spero v. Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. The Federal Circuit dismissed Spero's appeal from the Board's final written decision holding claims 1–8, 10–19, 21–30, and 32–33 of the '029 patent unpatentable as moot. It did so because it affirmed the Board's unpatentability determination for all claims of the '029 patent in a companion appeal, Spero v. Mercedes-Benz USA, LLC, No. 2025-1306, decided the same day. When a companion appeal already affirms unpatentability of every claim of a patent, parallel appeals from other IPRs on that patent may be dismissed as moot without any merits analysis, so the companion appeal is the one to watch. Dismissed as moot. Spero appealed a Board final written decision in IPR2022-01586 and IPR2023-01122 finding claims 1–8, 10–19, 21–30, and 32–33 of U.S. Patent No. 11,208,029 unpatentable. The Director of the USPTO intervened. Volkswagen Group of America and Porsche Cars North America were the appellees. In a separate decision issued the same day, Spero v. Mercedes-Benz USA, LLC, No. 2025-1306, the court affirmed the Board's determination that all claims of the '029 patent are unpatentable. Because all claims were already held unpatentable on affirmance in the companion case, the court dismissed this appeal as moot. The opinion does not reach the merits of the Board's reasoning in this appeal. No costs were awarded. standing / jurisdiction non-precedential