{"id":57698,"date":"2025-02-04T22:06:00","date_gmt":"2025-02-04T22:06:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dinsmore.com\/?post_type=publications&#038;p=57698"},"modified":"2025-12-31T16:38:21","modified_gmt":"2025-12-31T16:38:21","slug":"apple-prevails-and-federal-circuit-puts-expert-testimony-in-the-spotlight","status":"publish","type":"publications","link":"https:\/\/www.dinsmore.com\/publications\/apple-prevails-and-federal-circuit-puts-expert-testimony-in-the-spotlight\/","title":{"rendered":"Apple Prevails and Federal Circuit Puts Expert Testimony in the Spotlight"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.dinsmore.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Apple-v-Gesture-Header.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (\u201cCAFC\u201d) recently issued its opinion in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cafc.uscourts.gov\/opinions-orders\/23-1501.OPINION.1-27-2025_2457317.pdf\"><em>Apple Inc. v. Gesture Technology Partners, LLC<\/em><\/a>, a case that focuses on obviousness under 35 U.S.C. \u00a7103, claim breadth and the importance of detailed evidence in patent litigation.<a href=\"#_ftn1\" id=\"_ftnref1\">[1]<\/a> The decision, which largely favored Apple, provides key guidance for patent owners and practitioners navigating the dos and don\u2019ts of patent application preparation, prosecution and litigation including:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Patent owners should focus on robust specifications to support arguments against potential obviousness challenges, while also defining key terms that may differ from their ordinary meaning.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>In\u00a0Inter Partes Review (\u201cIPR\u201d), expert testimony may be used to elaborate on previous arguments in a petition so long as the elaboration remains within the scope of the initial arguments.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>In\u00a0litigation, expert testimony should include comprehensive technical comparisons between the accused product and the claims, and be supported by evidence.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>As background, Gesture Technology Partners (\u201cGesture\u201d) owns <a href=\"https:\/\/patents.google.com\/patent\/US8878949B2\/en?oq=8%2c878%2c949\">U.S. Patent No. 8,878,949<\/a> (\u201cthe \u2018949 patent\u201d), directed to image capture technology, which expired on May 11, 2020 due to failure to pay a maintenance fee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In June 2021, Apple filed an IPR for the then-expired \u2018949 patent asserting each of the claims were unpatentable. Independent claim 1 of the \u2019949 patent generally recites a portable device comprising an electro-optical sensor, a digital camera and a processor configured to control the camera to store an image upon detecting that an image capture command gesture has been performed within the sensor\u2019s field of view.<a href=\"#_ftn2\" id=\"_ftnref2\">[2]<\/a> Dependent claim 4 of the \u2018949 patent recites \u201cwherein the electro-optical sensor is fixed in relation to the digital camera.\u201d<a href=\"#_ftn3\" id=\"_ftnref3\">[3]<\/a> The Patent Trial and Appeal Board (\u201cPTAB\u201d) concluded that claims 1-3 and 5-7 were unpatentable as obvious, but maintained claim 4. Apple appealed the PTAB\u2019s decision arguing claim 4 was also unpatentable, while Gesture cross-appealed and argued the PTAB lacked jurisdiction over the IPR and for the patentability of claims 1-3 and 5-7.<a href=\"#_ftn4\" id=\"_ftnref4\">[4]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The CAFC quickly rejected Gesture\u2019s argument that the PTAB lacked jurisdiction over expired patents in IPR proceedings. It then affirmed the PTAB\u2019s decision on the unpatentability of claims 1-3 and 5-7, noting that Gesture\u2019s expert\u2019s conclusory assertions were insufficient to dispute Apple\u2019s arguments.<a href=\"#_ftn5\" id=\"_ftnref5\">[5]<\/a> The CAFC agreed with Apple\u2019s expert testimony explaining how a person of ordinary skill in the art would understand how to combine the embodiments in the prior art to render the claims of the \u2018949 patent obvious.<a href=\"#_ftn6\" id=\"_ftnref6\">[6]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With respect to claim 4, the CAFC reconsidered the PTAB\u2019s decision to ignore Apple\u2019s expert testimony relating to the \u201cfixed\u201d limitation. Specifically, Gesture argued that Apple\u2019s expert testimony did not reference any analysis in connection with the subject matter of claim 4.<a href=\"#_ftn7\" id=\"_ftnref7\">[7]<\/a> However, the CAFC concluded that \u201cApple\u2019s expert testimony was sufficiently confined to the argument made in Apple\u2019s IPR petition to warrant consideration by the PTAB, since \u2018a party is not\u2019 barred from elaborating on [its] arguments on issues previously raised\u201d and thus should not have been ignored by the PTAB. <a href=\"#_ftn8\" id=\"_ftnref8\">[8]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>By concluding that Apple\u2019s expert testimony should not have been ignored, the CAFC disagreed with the PTAB determination that claim 4 was valid. According to the CAFC, the specification of the \u2018949 patent failed to provide any definition of the term \u201cfixed\u201d and, thus, the PTAB considered it\u2019s meaning in light of the specification.<a href=\"#_ftn9\" id=\"_ftnref9\">[9]<\/a>The CAFC emphasized Apple\u2019s expert testified that \u201ca [person of ordinary skill in the art] would have understood \u2026 [that the components] must have and maintain overlapping field of view\u201d and that \u201cfixing them retains overlapping fields of view.<a href=\"#_ftn10\" id=\"_ftnref10\">[10]<\/a> The CAFC reversed the PTAB\u2019s conclusion and held that claim 4 is also unpatentable.<a href=\"#_ftn11\">[11]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you have questions about this case or if you would like to discuss strategies for patent prosecution, portfolio management or litigation, please contact the author of this legal alert or another Dinsmore intellectual property attorney.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref1\" id=\"_ftn1\">[1]<\/a> <em>Apple Inc. v. Gesture Technology Partners, LLC,<\/em> Nos. 23-1501 and 23-1554 (Fed. Cir. January 2025), at 3<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref2\" id=\"_ftn2\">[2]<\/a> <em>Id.<\/em> at 3<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref3\" id=\"_ftn3\">[3]<\/a> <em>Id.<\/em> at 4<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref4\" id=\"_ftn4\">[4]<\/a> <em>Id.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref5\" id=\"_ftn5\">[5]<\/a> <em>Id.<\/em> at 9<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref6\" id=\"_ftn6\">[6]<\/a> <em>Id.<\/em> at 10<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref7\" id=\"_ftn7\">[7]<\/a> <em>Id.<\/em> at 12<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref8\" id=\"_ftn8\">[8]<\/a> <em>Id.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref9\" id=\"_ftn9\">[9]<\/a> <em>Id.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref10\" id=\"_ftn10\">[10]<\/a> <em>Id.<\/em> at 13-14<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (\u201cCAFC\u201d) recently issued its opinion in Apple Inc. v. Gesture Technology Partners, LLC, a case that focuses on obviousness under 35 U.S.C. \u00a7103, claim breadth and the importance of detailed evidence in patent litigation.[1] The decision, which largely favored Apple, provides key guidance for patent owners\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"publication-type":[],"class_list":["post-57698","publications","type-publications","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.5 (Yoast SEO v26.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Apple Prevails and Federal Circuit Puts Expert Testimony in the Spotlight - Dinsmore &amp; Shohl<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Apple Prevails and Federal Circuit Puts Expert Testimony in the Spotlight Read insights and legal analysis from attorneys at Dinsmore &amp; 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