An appellant's burden on appeal is never easy but it is particularly difficult when the questions at issue are based on factual evidence. The appellate judiciary is loathe (generally).
In
Trustees of Columbia University v. Illumina, Inc., the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed the Patent Trial and Appeals Board (“PTAB” or “Board”) decision to invalidate five patents owned by Columbia, finding them obvious.
1 The patents are related to methods of DNA sequencing covering nucleotide analogs and their use in “sequencing-by-synthesis.”
2 The invalidations were the result of inter partes review (“IPR”) proceedings initiated by Illumina.
3
This non-precedential opinion concerned Columbia’s challenges to the PTAB’s factual findings regarding, inter alia, teaching away and whether there would be reasonable expectation of success when evaluating obviousness challenges to the patents.