FLEMING v. CIRRUS DESIGN CORP.

 Cirrus Design Corp. petitioned for inter partes review of certain claims of U.S. Patent No. RE47,474 relating to aircraft including an intelligent ballistic parachute systems.  Fleming appeals the Board’s final written decision determining that the claims are unpatentable as obvious over a combination of Cirrus Design’s Pilot Operation Handbook (“POH”) and other prior art. Fleming argues it was error for the Board to rely on common sense to supply a missing claim limitation, but the CAFC has continued to approach the obviousness inquiry with the flexibility required by KSR and finds that the Board’s conclusion is the result of a faithful application of the law on obviousness, including KSR’s directive to consider the creativity of the ordinarily skilled artisan. The CAFC also rejects Fleming’s appeal of the Board’s denial of his motion to amend certain claims which the Board determined lacked written description and were indefinite because Fleming pointed to no passage in the specification that supports the proposed amended claims. Thus, the CAFC affirms the Board’s obviousness determination and its denial of Fleming’s motion to amend.

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