AIRBUS S.A.S. v. FIREPASS CORPORATION
- Nov 8 2019 |
- Category: CAFC Updates
Airbus appeals the Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s reversal of the patent examiner’s rejection of certain new claims presented by patent owner Firepass in an inter partes reexamination of U.S. Patent No. 6,418,752 relating to a fire prevention and suppression system that prevents and extinguishes fires using breathable air instead of water, foam, or toxic chemicals. Airbus challenges the Board’s finding that an asserted prior art reference that discloses equipment for providing hypoxic air in an enclosed area to simulate low-oxygen mountain air for athletic training at different elevations fails to qualify as relevant prior art because it is not analogous to the claimed invention of the ’752 patent. The CAFC holds that the Board’s “field of endeavor” determination is supported by substantial evidence, but the Board erred in its “reasonably pertinent” determination because the Board declined to consider record evidence advanced by Airbus to demonstrate the knowledge and perspective of a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention. The CAFC therefore vacates the Board’s reversal of the examiner’s rejection and remands for reconsideration in view of this additional evidence.