Pabst Licensing GMBH & Co. KG v. Samsung Electronics America, Inc.

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Pabst’s patent, entitled “Analog Data Generating and Processing Device Having a Multi-Use Automatic Processor,” issued in 2015 and claims priority to a 1999 application through continuations of applications that issued as Pabst’s 399 and 449 patents. That same specification also gave rise to Papst’s 144 and 746 patents. The specification describes an interface device for communication between a data device (on one side of the interface) and a host computer (on the other). The interface device achieves high data transfer rates, without the need for a user-installed driver specific to the interface device, by using fast drivers that are already standard on the host computer for data transfer, such as a hard-drive driver. The interface device signals to the host device that the interface device is an input/output device for which the host already has such a driver. On inter partes review, Patent Trial and Appeal Board determined that claims 1– 38 and 43–45 are unpatentable for obviousness based on a combination of the Aytac patent, a publication setting forth standards for the Small Computer System Interface-2, and “admitted prior art.” The Federal Circuit affirmed, finding that Pabst’s arguments are barred by issue preclusion and fail on the merits. View "Pabst Licensing GMBH & Co. KG v. Samsung Electronics America, Inc." on Justia Law