Google prevails at Federal Circuit in IPR challenge

Client(s) Google Inc.

Jones Day successfully represented Google, Inc. before the Federal Circuit by obtaining an affirmance of the PTAB's decision in an IPR proceeding. The Federal Circuit upheld the Board's ruling that all challenged patent claims, in a patent related to the presentation of search results, were unpatentable because they would have been obvious in view of a prior-art patent and a book titled "World Wide Web Searching For Dummies." In affirming the PTAB, the Federal Circuit took an opportunity to clarify its "teaching-away" precedent, explaining that [a] prior-art references do not teach away when there is no suggestion that the references are "mutually exclusive" nor teach abandoning features "wholesale."

The challenged patent claims had also been asserted in a parallel district court litigation, where Jones Day obtained a pre-institution stay following submission of the IPR petition. The Federal Circuit's decision holding the asserted claims unpatentable resolves all allegations of infringement raised by Industrial Quick Search and its principal, Michael Meiresonne, against Google in the Western District of Michigan.

The district court, IPR, and Federal Circuit proceedings involved a cross-office and cross-practice team including Greg Castanias (Washington, DC) and Sasha Mayergoyz (Chicago).

Meiresonne v. Google, Inc., IPR2014-01188 (PTAB), No. 016-1755 (Fed. Cir.)