The Patent Trial and Appeal Board properly found during inter partes review (IPR) that two claims of a patent directed to a mechanism for controlling the operation of a downhole drill string were invalid as anticipated by a prior art reference, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has decided. The court rejected the patent owner’s argument that the PTAB erred in construing a disputed claim term (Schoeller-Bleckmann Oilfield Equipment AG v. Churchill Drilling Tools US, Inc., November 9, 2016, Linn, R.).
A full summary of this case has been published on Kluwer IP Law.
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