Michael Neustel enjoyed participating in an IP Roundtable with USPTO Director Andrei Iancu, U.S. Senator Hoeven and ND Governor Burgum on November 30, 2018 which was attended by various business and university leaders. Director Iancu did an excellent job of discussing the various intellectual property issues at the USPTO and how the USPTO is moving forward to improve the services it provides to the intellectual property community. Director Iancu even provided additional time after the IP Round Table to meet with Michael and a local business leader to discuss various issues important to small businesses. We appreciate Director Iancu coming to North Dakota not only to visit our great state but also to share his vision of the future at the USPTO!
U.S. Patent Attorney Michael Neustel with USPTO Director Andrei Iancu, U.S. Senator Hoeven and ND Governor Doug Burgum.
Just one day after oral argument on February 7, 2018, the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit issued a Judgment in favor of Neustel’s client Inline Packaging involving Graphic Packaging’s appeal of the PTAB’s IPR Decision (IPR2015‐01609) finding all 53 claims of U.S. Patent No. 8,872,078 unpatentable.
U.S. Patent No. 8,872,078 is owned by Graphic Packaging International, Inc. and relates to technology used for microwave susceptor sleeves. Graphic Packaging had sued Inline Packaging for infringement of the ‘078 patent in U.S. Federal District Court over its alleged sale of microwave susceptor materials to Nestlé for use with certain HOT POCKETS® and/or LEAN CUISINE® branded food products. Neustel Law Offices represented the IPR Petitioner, Inline Packaging, LLC, a small microwave susceptor packaging business with approximately 50 employees in Princeton, Minnesota in the successful IPR campaign and defending the IPR decision on appeal to the Federal Circuit.
UPDATE: There is a good Law360 Article on the appeal decision on February 9, 2018.
On October 5, 2017, Neustel client Barco, Inc. was granted a stay in the Northern District of Illinois, on the basis of three petitions for Inter Partes review challenging all the asserted patents in the case. The case is T-Rex AB v. Barco, Inc., No. 1:16-cv-6938 (N.D. IL.). The IPR’s have not yet been instituted, but the stay follows the practice in the Northern District of Illinois liberally granting such stays when discovery and other matters in litigation have not progressed significantly toward trial. The challenged U.S. patents are RE39,470, 7,382,334, and 6,430,603, and relate to systems and methods for remotely displaying digital information, particularly for digital signage and advertising. Barco, Inc. is represented by Edward Runyan of Neustel Law Offices, LTD.
On August 3 & 4, 2017, on behalf of Barco, Inc., Neustel filed petitions for inter partes review on three patents owned and asserted in district court by T-Rex Property AB. The challenged patents are U.S. Patents RE39,470; 7,382,334; & 6,430,603. The patents all relate to systems for remotely controlling displays, with particular application to digital signage and advertising.
