Food-Packaging Patent Cut After Fed. Circ. Win for Nestle

On August 16, 2019, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) handed down a victory for Finnegan client Nestlé, invalidating several claims in a patent covering aseptic bottle filling machines owned by Steuben Foods, Inc. The dispute began in 2013 when Steuben filed a lawsuit in district court, accusing Nestlé of infringing the patent. Nestlé then asked the PTAB to examine the validity of the nine asserted patent claims in an inter partes review (IPR) proceeding.

Initially, the PTAB reviewed five of the nine asserted claims and determined that all but one were either anticipated or obvious. Nestlé appealed, arguing that the PTAB misinterpreted a term in the upheld claim. The Federal Circuit agreed and sent the patent back to the PTAB for further review. During that further review, the Supreme Court held in SAS Institute v. Iancu that the PTAB must review the validity of every claim that is challenged in an instituted IPR. Therefore, on remand, the PTAB also addressed the other four claims that it initially declined to review. The board found that all of the challenged claims were obvious, resulting in all nine asserted claims being held unpatentable.