Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. v. Infobridge PTE. Ltd.

Infobridge’s 772 Patent, titled “Method of Constructing Merge List,” generally relates to encoding and decoding video data; the patented methods are essential to the High-Efficiency Video Coding standard (H.265 standard). In two inter partes review proceedings requested by Samsung, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board upheld all challenged claims of the 772 patent, finding that Samsung failed to show that a certain prior art reference was publicly accessible before the 772 patent’s critical date and thus could not be considered prior art. The Federal Circuit vacated, first holding that has standing to appeal. the 772 patent is licensed as part of a “pool” of patents, including some owned by Samsung, that have been declared essential to the H.265 standard. Under this arrangement, Samsung is being deprived of royalty payments, which constitutes the kind of concrete and particularized economic injury that satisfies the Article III requirement. The Board applied the wrong legal standard in assessing public accessibility. A petitioner need not establish that specific persons actually accessed or received a work to show that the work was publicly accessible. The information may have been publicly accessible when it was emailed on a listserv to interested individuals. View "Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. v. Infobridge PTE. Ltd." on Justia Law