Apple Inc. v. Gesture Tech. Partners, LLC

Authored by: Jeremy J. Gustrowsky

In a recent decision, the Federal Circuit affirmed a ruling by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) that invalidated most claims of U.S. Patent No. 7,933,431, owned by Gesture Technology Partners, LLC. This patent covers technology for using cameras in handheld devices to sense gestures and provide input to computers, such as recognizing finger movements. Apple Inc., LG Electronics, and Google LLC had challenged the patent through inter partes review (IPR), arguing that its claims were obvious in light of earlier inventions.

The PTAB found that claims 1-10, 12, and 14-31 of the ‘431 patent were unpatentable, but claims 11 and 13 survived. Apple appealed the decision on claims 11 and 13, seeking to have them invalidated as well, while Gesture cross-appealed, arguing that more claims should be upheld. The Federal Circuit sided with the PTAB, agreeing that substantial evidence supported its findings on both sides. The court found that Apple had not sufficiently shown that the prior art made claims 11 and 13 obvious, while Gesture’s arguments failed to overturn the Board’s invalidation of the other claims.

A notable aspect of the case was Gesture’s attempt to argue that Apple should have been barred from the proceeding due to its relationship with Unified Patents, another organization that had filed a similar IPR. However, the court ruled that Gesture had forfeited this argument by not raising it before the PTAB, emphasizing that such fact-based issues must be presented early in the process.

Finally, the court rejected Gesture’s claim that the PTAB lacked authority to review expired patents, reaffirming that the Board does have jurisdiction over IPRs involving expired patents. In summary, most of Gesture’s patent claims were invalidated, but two claims remain, leaving a small portion of the patent intact.