Federal Circuit confirms Patent Trial and Appeal Board wins for FedEx

Finnegan client FedEx was accused of patent infringement in two separate litigations in the Northern District of California, where IpVenture asserted two related patents directed to processes used in connection with tracking packages with the aid of a device called “SenseAware,” which enables users to track the location and certain conditions of related packages. On behalf of FedEx, Finnegan filed an inter partes reexamination on one patent, and an inter partes review (IPR) on the other at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). The USPTO granted both petitions, and the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) affirmed the rejection of all claims of the reexamined patent and invalidated all claims of the second patent during the IPR. The district court cases were stayed during the USPTO proceedings and during IpVenture’s appeal to the Federal Circuit, which affirmed both of the PTAB’s decisions.