CAFC
Finjan Patent Appeal Has Uneven Result
Written December 3, 2018
The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on November 19, 2018, affirmed-in-part and vacated and remanded-in-part the Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s decisions in a pair of inter partes reviews. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. v. Finjan, Inc., Fed. Cir., 2017-2315, 11/19/18. The Board upheld the patentability of Finjan’s system directed toward “computer virus protection against dynamically generated malicious code and conventional viruses that are statically generated,” which protects computers from viruses and malware.
The Court disagreed with Palo Alto’s position that some of Finjan’s patent claims were obvious, and therefore unpatentable, affirming the Board. However, in the other review, the Court found that the Board's decision to decline to consider two claims contradicted the US Supreme Court’s recent holding in SAS Institute, Inc. v. Iancu, and vacated and remanded-in-part.
The Court disagreed with Palo Alto’s position that some of Finjan’s patent claims were obvious, and therefore unpatentable, affirming the Board. However, in the other review, the Court found that the Board's decision to decline to consider two claims contradicted the US Supreme Court’s recent holding in SAS Institute, Inc. v. Iancu, and vacated and remanded-in-part.