Federal Circuit Affirms IPR Win for Sirius XM

On Nov. 1, 2017, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed Sirius XM Radio Inc.’s inter partes review win over Dragon Intellectual Property LLC.  This ruling also rendered moot Dragon’s appeal to Sirius XM’s District Court win of non-infringement of the Dragon Patent.

By way of background, Sirius XM secured dismissal of the patent infringement suit brought by Dragon against Sirius XM (and nine other defendants) after the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware (Judge Andrews) determined that the scope of the patent claims could not encompass the technology Dragon had accused of infringement based on representations made during the prosecution of the asserted patent.  This determination meant that the patent applicant clearly limited the scope of the patented invention such that the claimed invention could not be interpreted in the litigation to broadly cover the Sirius XM devices accused of infringement.  At the same time, Sirius XM had filed a petition for an inter partes review of the asserted patent before the PTAB, joining co-defendant DISH Network LLC’s petition challenging the patent’s validity.  The PTAB issued a decision holding all asserted claims of the asserted patent unpatentable, which the Federal Circuit affirmed.

The Kramer Levin team representing Sirius XM was led by Intellectual Property partner Mark A. Baghdassarian and counsel Peter A. Abruzzese, and included associate Shannon H. Hedvat.