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On Federal Circuit Remand, the PTAB Rules Palo Alto Networks Failed to Prove Finjan's '154 Patent UnpatentableEAST PALO ALTO, Calif., May 23, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Finjan Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: FNJN), and its subsidiary, Finjan, Inc. (“Finjan”), reported that the United States Patent and Trademark Office’s Patent Trial and Appeal Board (“PTAB”) entered a Final Written Decision on Remand, dated May 15, 2019, concerning Palo Alto Networks, Inc.’s (“Palo Alto Networks”) petition for Inter Partes Review (“IPR”, Case IPR2016-00151) of Claims 1-12 of Finjan’s U.S. Patent No. 8,141,154 (“the ‘154 Patent”). Specifically, the PTAB determined that in addition to determining that Palo Alto Networks failed to show “by a preponderance of the evidence that claims 1-8, 10, and 11 of the ‘154 patent are unpatentable,” Palo Alto Networks also failed to show that claims 9 and 12 are unpatentable. Palo Alto Networks filed a Petition for IPR on Claims 1-12 of the ‘154 Patent on November 5, 2015. The PTAB instituted trial on Claims 1-8, 10, and 11, and denied institution of dependent Claims 9 and 12. The PTAB then issued its original Final Written Decision on March 15, 2017, and determined that Palo Alto Networks had not shown that Claims 1-8, 10, and 11 were unpatentable. Palo Alto Networks appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (“CAFC”). While the appeal was pending, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in a different case, SAS Inst. Inc. v. Iancu, 138 S. Ct. 1348, 1355-56 (2018), that IPR proceedings must consider “each claim challenged” and “the grounds on which the challenge to each claim is based.” The CAFC vacated the March 15 Final Written Decision and remanded to the PTAB for reconsideration “consistent with SAS.” On reconsideration, the PTAB ruled that because “independent claims 1 and 10 have not been shown to be unpatentable over [prior art], we determine that [Palo Alto Networks] has not shown … that [dependent] claims 9 and 12 are unpatentable over [prior art].” “The ‘154 Patent has been subject to seven administrative challenges, resulting in four favorable written decisions and three institutions denied or terminated by the PTAB. This most recent PTAB decision should offer some additional guidance to other venues where we have asserted the ‘154 Patent,” stated Julie Mar-Spinola, Finjan’s CIPO. “In addition to Palo Alto Networks, the ‘154 Patent is involved in district court actions against Cisco Systems, Inc.; SonicWall, Inc.; BitDefender, Inc. and BitDefender S.R.L.; Juniper Networks, Inc.; Check Point Software Technologies Inc. and Check Point Software Technologies LTD.; Rapid7, Inc. nd Rapid7 LLC; and Qualys, Inc. The current status of IPR proceedings are listed below. There are no more cases pending pre-institution.
Pending cases with activity still underway:
The court dockets for the foregoing cases are publicly available on the Public Access to Court Electronic Records (PACER) website, www.pacer.gov, which is operated by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts. About Finjan Holdings, Inc. Follow Finjan Holdings, Inc.: Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements Investor Contact: |