In Personal Audio, LLC v. Electronic Frontier Foundation, [2016-1123] (August 7, 2017), the Federal Circuit affirmed the PTAB’s determination in an IPR that claims 31-35 of U.S. Patent No. 8,112,504, related to a system and apparatus for storing and distributing episodic media files, were unpatentable.

The Federal Circuit first addressed whether the Electronic Frontier Foundation had standing to participate in the appeal after  Consumer Watchdog v. Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, 753 F.3d 1258 (Fed. Cir. 2014), where the Federal Circuit held that a challenger who was not a competitor did not have Article III standing to appeal a PTAB determination of patentability.

However the Federal Circuit concluded that because Personal Audio had standing to appeal the invalidation of its patent claims, the Electronic Frontier Foundation did not need Article III standing to merely participate in the proceeding in which the appellant had standing.

On the merits, the Federal Circuit rejected Personal Audio’s objections to the Board’s claim construction, and affirmed the Board’s decision that the claims were anticipated or obvious.