The Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) recently invalidated two patents owned by Miller UK Ltd., an equipment supplier, relating to couplers used during excavating operations. The PTAB agreed with Finnegan client Caterpillar Inc. that the claimed inventions were obvious. The board said that Caterpillar demonstrated, "by a preponderance of the evidence" that claims in each of Miller's patents had been made obvious by a group of previous inventions and published writings.
