作者：Mark Raskin, Robert Whitman, Andrea Pacelli, New York Office
2020年4月27日，美国最高法院驳回了艾锐势公司提出的5项针对金杜客户ChanBond, LLC（“ChanBond”）在美专利有效性的上诉裁决复审申请。该裁定宣告ChanBond最终获得胜诉，为针对ChanBond的知识产权无效性案件画上句号。（英文版请下滑查看）
ChanBond在通过有线网络提供高速互联网服务方面拥有多项核心专利。2015年，ChanBond对多家有线网络设备商提起专利侵权诉讼。此后不久，美国专利及商标局共收到9项有关质疑ChanBond专利有效性的双方复审（IPR）请求。其中绝大部分请求均未成功，涉诉大部分权利要求仍维持其有效性。2018年，艾锐势公司（ARRIS International PLC，一家有线设备供应商）另提出5项双方复审（IPR）请求，对相同权利要求的有效性提出异议。美国专利审查与上诉委员会（PTAB）驳回该等请求，认定艾锐势公司与相关诉讼的被告有共同利益关系，这样考虑对该等被告适用的一年法定时限，艾锐势公司不能申请这些附加的双方复审请求。当艾锐势公司试图就PTAB的裁决向美国联邦巡回上诉法院提出上诉时，ChanBond以缺乏上诉管辖权为由向法院动议驳回该上诉，法院批准了ChanBond的动议，上诉被驳回。最终，艾锐势公司向美国最高法院提出再审请求。
美国最高法院驳回艾锐势公司再审申请的裁定使得PTAB的裁决成为最终裁决，清除了ChanBond专利维权道路上的最后障碍。本案定于2020年8月开庭，金杜纽约专利团队全程代理ChanBond，金杜团队负责人为合伙人Mark Raskin, Robert Whitman 和顾问Andrea Pacelli。
United States Supreme Court Denies Petition for Certiorari Against KWM Client ChanBond, LLC
On April 27, 2020 the United States Supreme Court denied a petition to overturn an appellate ruling in favor of KWM client ChanBond, LLC. This decision puts an end to a long and unsuccessful campaign challenging the validity of ChanBond’s intellectual property.
ChanBond owns several key patents on the provision of high-speed internet service over cable networks. In 2015, ChanBond filed lawsuits for patent infringement against a number of cable companies. Shortly thereafter, a total of 9 petitions for inter partes review (IPR) were filed in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to challenge the validity of ChanBond’s patents. The vast majority of those petitions were unsuccessful, and most of the asserted claims remained valid. In 2018, ARRIS International PLC (a provider of cable equipment) filed 5 more IPR petitions seeking to invalidate the same claims. The Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) denied the petitions, finding that ARRIS was in privity with the defendants in the underlying litigation, and therefore could not file any additional IPR petitions due to a one-year time limit provided by statute for such defendants. When ARRIS attempted to appeal the PTAB’s decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, ChanBond moved to dismiss the appeal for lack of appellate jurisdiction, and the court granted ChanBond’s motion to dismiss. This led ARRIS to file a petition for writ of certiorari to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court’s denial of ARRIS’s petition renders the PTAB’s decision final, and removes the last barrier to ChanBond’s enforcement of its patent rights. The case is scheduled to go to trial in August 2020, represented by KWM’s patent team based in New York. The KWM team was led by partner Mark Raskin, Robert Whitman and of counsel Andrea Pacelli.