IPR challenges to VirnetX patents averted through preliminary responses

Apple filed seven inter partes review (IPR) petitions challenging several patents owned by Finnegan client VirnetX more than a year after it was served with a complaint alleging infringement of the patents.  Finnegan secured non-institution decisions for VirnetX through arguments in its patent owner’s preliminary responses to the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) that Apple was time-barred under 35 U.S.C. 315(b) from requesting IPR of the challenged patents.