In Amazon v. Audio Pod, Acting Director Hits Pause on Young Patent When Older Patents Dominate the Playlist

Acting Director Coke Morgan Stewart denied institution of all six Petitions in Amazon.com, Inc., Amazon.com Services LLC, Amazon Web Services, Inc., and Audible, Inc. v. Audio Pod IP, LLC, IPR2025-00757, IPR2025-00765, IPR2025-00768, IPR2025-00769, IPR2025-00774, IPR2025-00777, Paper 15 (PTAB Aug.14, 2025) on the basis of efficient use of Board resources, even though one of the challenged patents had only been in force since 2020.

At the time of the decision, five of the challenged patents had been in force for at least seven years, while the sixth—U.S. Patent No. 10,805,111 (“the ’111 patent”)—had been in force for four years. For the five older patents, the Acting Director found that their age created “strong settled expectations” and that Petitioners had been aware of these patents for a significant period before filing their Petitions. While acknowledging that the shorter enforcement period for the ’111 patent would typically weigh against discretionary denial, the Acting Director explained that instituting a separate IPR solely for the ’111 patent would have been an “inefficient use of Board resources.” The Acting Director also noted that all six patents were the subject of a parallel district court case, and as such, the validity of the patents would be assessed in that proceeding.

In contrast to Amgen Inc. v. Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, IPR2025-00603, Paper 8 (PTAB Jul. 24, 2025), where institution was denied for two patents that were at least six years old but a third patent that was only three years old was referred to the Board because it had not yet developed “strong settled expectations,” here, the Acting Director did not determine whether the ’111 patent had itself developed strong settled expectations. Instead, the Acting Director determined that institution would not be an efficient use of Board resources despite the lack of settled expectations for the ’111 patent, suggesting that related patents may sometimes rise and fall together, regardless of age.