Expired Patents Are Not Immune to Challenges at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board

In a precedential opinion, the Federal Circuit definitively held that the Patent Trial and Appeal Board has jurisdiction over IPRs that concern expired patents.

The appellant in this case filed an IPR petition against the challenged patent, arguing that the claims were unpatentable as obvious. Notably, at the time appellant filed its IPR, the challenged patent had already expired. Ultimately, the PTAB determined that several of the claims were unpatentable, while others were not unpatentable. Both the patent owner and appellant appealed the PTAB’s final written decision.

On appeal, the patent owner argued that because the challenged patent had already expired, the PTAB could not exercise jurisdiction over the IPR. Citing the Supreme Court’s decision in Oil States Energy Services, LLC v.