On March 4, 2019, the USPTO’s Patent Trial and Appeal Board (“Board”) issued a final written decision in an inter partes review proceeding filed by GN Hearing A/S (“Petitioner”). IPR2017-01926 relates to the patentability of claims 1-10 of U.S. Patent No. 7,894,621 (“the ‘621 Patent”). The ‘621 Patent, which is owned by Oticon A/S (“Patent Owner”), is drawn to an audio microphone device.
In the IPR2017-01926 decision, the Board determined that the Petitioner had shown by a preponderance of the evidence that claims 1-6, 8, and 10 of the ‘621 Patent are unpatentable as obvious under 35 U.S.C § 103, but that Petitioner had not shown that claims 7 and 9 were unpatentable as obvious.
By: April Breyer Menon