In Ascend Performance Materials Operations LLC v. Samsung SDI Co., Ltd., Samsung SDI argued that the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB)’s final written decision was improper on several grounds and petitioned the Director to review the decision.
The Director granted Samsung SDI’s request regarding the argument that the PTAB should have separately considered two claims that had an earlier priority date and antedated the prior art. The Director thus vacated the PTAB decision and remanded the case to the PTAB for consideration as to whether the two claims entitled to their priority date and whether the claims are patentable in view of the record.
This marks the first time that a petition for USPTO Director Review was granted in an inter partes review case.