TELEFONAKTIEBOLAGET LM v. TCL CORPORATION
- Nov 7 2019 |
- Category: CAFC Updates
Ericsson is the owner of United States Patent No. 6,029,052 relating to a direct conversion receiver for wireless communication systems that may receive signals from systems that operate at different frequency bands. TCL filed two petitions for inter partes review (“IPR”) of certain claims of the ’052 patent. The Patent Trial and Appeal Board instituted review, consolidated the petitions, and ruled that all of the challenged claims are unpatentable on the ground of obviousness. The primary issue on appeal is whether a specific foreign publication (“the Jentschel article”) is an available reference against the ’052 patent. The CAFC affirms the Board’s decision that based on the sworn Declaration of Doris Michel, a librarian at the Technische Universität Darmstadt in Germany, the Jentschel article was received and shelved in the Darmstadt library in May/June 1996 and thus is an available reference. Rejecting Ericsson’s argument that Jentschel is a mere non-enabling feasibility study and does not provide the requisite motivation to select a frequency divider to shift phases, the CAFC concludes that this publication in combination with other prior art renders obvious the challenged claims and affirms the Board’s decision.