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August 2016: IPR Victory

August 2016

The firm continued its success before the United States Patent & Trademark Office’s Patent Trial & Appeals Board (“PTAB”), this time successfully defending Japanese client Anest Iwata Corporation against an inter partes review petition filed by its competitor, Sata GmbH. Anest designs and manufactures industrial paint spray guns. In 2013, Sata filed a petition for inter partes review challenging one of Anest’s key patents covering the spray gun technology. Represented by prior counsel, Sata prevailed on an earlier petition, and invalidated numerous claims of the Anest patent. In 2015, Sata filed a second petition seeking to invalidate the remaining claims. Anest hired Quinn Emanuel to defend against the second petition, and the firm filed a Patent Owner’s Response arguing that the petition should be denied. Substantively, the firm explained that many of Sata’s invalidity arguments were based on flawed mathematical assumptions that lacked evidentiary support. Quinn Emanuel also argued that the second petition was procedurally improper because, while styled differently, the arguments were ones already raised in the first petition. The PTAB agreed with the firm and denied the petition in full. Sata filed a Request for Rehearing, which the PTAB also denied. As a result, Anest’s patent is secure, and its competitive position in the spray gun industry remains strong.