Nyemaster Achieves Significant Success in Patent Inter Partes Review Proceeding

On August 24, 2015, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) ruled in favor of LMK Technologies, LLC, declining institution of inter partes reviews on two petitions filed by BLD Services, LLC. The decisions issued in IPR2015-00723 (Paper 7) and IPR2015-00721 (Paper 9).

The LMK patents at issue pertain to LMK’s trenchless underground pipe rehabilitation technology and are the subject of pending district court infringement litigation filed against BLD. BLD previously unsuccessfully challenged the same claims with earlier IPR petitions.  

The result is particularly gratifying in that the PTAB currently grants approximately 75% of petitions filed for inter partes review (one federal judge has referred to the PTAB as a “death squad” for patents). 

“This is a tremendous victory for our client, LMK,” said Jeff Harty, intellectual property counsel at Nyemaster. “We are pleased the PTAB properly put an end to BLD’s second attempts to challenge claims of LMK’s patents through the inter partes review process.”
Harty is counsel for LMK in the IPR proceedings and the underlying district court infringement litigation.