Judge Profile

Jeffrey S. Smith

56 IP cases indexed. Covers patent matters.

Cases Presided Over

56 cases indexed | Page 1 of 2

patent instituted · Jun 4, 2025

Meta Platforms, Inc. v.Mullen Industries LLC

· IPR2025-00742

Meta Platforms successfully petitioned to institute IPR against Mullen Industries LLC regarding augmented reality and location-based gaming claims. The Board found a reasonable likelihood of obviousness over Levesque and Ronzani, setting the stage for trial.

patent terminated or settled · May 5, 2025

Apple Inc. v.Apex Beam Technologies LLC

· IPR2025-00908

Apple and Apex Beam Technologies jointly moved to terminate sixteen inter partes review proceedings after reaching a settlement, and the PTAB granted the termination.

patent terminated or settled · May 5, 2025

Apple Inc. v.Apex Beam Technologies LLC

· IPR2025-00906

Apple and Apex Beam Technologies jointly moved to terminate sixteen inter partes review proceedings after reaching a settlement, and the PTAB granted the termination.

patent terminated or settled · May 5, 2025

Apple Inc. v.Apex Beam Technologies LLC

· IPR2025-00903

Apple and Apex Beam Technologies settled sixteen inter partes review proceedings covering patent 11,546,110. The Board granted joint motions to terminate the IPRs and ordered the settlement agreements to be kept confidential.

patent terminated or settled · May 5, 2025

Apple Inc. v.Apex Beam Technologies LLC

· IPR2025-00897

Apple and Apex Beam Technologies jointly moved to terminate sixteen inter partes review proceedings after reaching a confidential settlement, and the PTAB granted the termination.

patent instituted · May 4, 2025

Meta Platforms, Inc. v.Mullen Industries LLC

· IPR2025-00746

Meta Platforms, Inc. successfully convinced the PTAB that its claims against Mullen Industries LLC were non-obvious based on prior art (Levine). The Board instituted trial on all challenged claims related to location-based gaming and virtual reality features.

patent instituted · May 4, 2025

Meta Platforms, Inc. v.Mullen Industries LLC

· IPR2025-00745

Meta Platforms successfully convinced the PTAB that its claims are obvious over prior art referencing location-based games. The Board found a reasonable likelihood of prevailing on obviousness for multiple claims across two patents.

patent terminated or settled · Apr 29, 2025

Apple Inc. v.Apex Beam Technologies LLC

· IPR2025-00900

Apple and Apex Beam reached a settlement that terminated 16 inter partes review proceedings covering multiple patents. The Board granted the joint motion, treating the settlement documents as confidential.

patent terminated or settled · Apr 29, 2025

Apple Inc. v.Apex Beam Technologies LLC

· IPR2025-00907

Apple and Apex Beam Technologies settled their dispute, leading to the termination of 16 inter partes review proceedings covering multiple patents, including U.S. Patent 11,139,944. The Board granted the joint motion to terminate, citing good cause and public policy favoring settlement.

patent instituted · Apr 29, 2025

Apple Inc. v.Apex Beam Technologies LLC

· IPR2025-00900

Apple Inc. successfully petitioned to institute IPR against Apex Beam Technologies LLC's patent, demonstrating a reasonable likelihood of unpatentability for claims 1-20 based on prior art.

patent terminated or settled · Apr 28, 2025

Apple Inc. v.Apex Beam Technologies LLC

· IPR2025-00901

Apple and Apex Beam Technologies jointly moved to terminate sixteen IPRs after reaching a settlement. The Board granted the motion, treating the settlement agreements as confidential. No claim merits were decided.

patent terminated or settled · Apr 28, 2025

Apple Inc. v.Apex Beam Technologies LLC

· IPR2025-00896

Apple and Apex Beam Technologies jointly moved to terminate sixteen inter partes review proceedings after reaching a settlement, and the PTAB granted the termination.

patent instituted · Apr 28, 2025

Apple Inc. v.Apex Beam Technologies LLC

· IPR2025-00901

The PTAB granted institution of IPR for Apple against Apex Beam Technologies over a wireless communication patent. The Board found a reasonable likelihood that the combination of Lee, Freda, and Ly renders claims 1-20 obvious.

patent instituted · Apr 28, 2025

Apple Inc. v.Apex Beam Technologies LLC

· IPR2025-00896

The PTAB granted institution of IPR for Apple Inc. against Apex Beam Technologies LLC, finding a reasonable likelihood that the combination of Chen and 3GPP renders at least one claim obvious.

patent terminated or settled · Apr 25, 2025

Apple Inc. v.Apex Beam Technologies LLC

· IPR2025-00911

Apple and Apex Beam Technologies settled 16 inter partes review proceedings, leading the PTAB to terminate the cases.

patent terminated or settled · Apr 25, 2025

Apple Inc. v.Apex Beam Technologies LLC

· IPR2025-00910

Apple and Apex Beam Technologies jointly moved to terminate sixteen inter partes review proceedings after reaching a settlement. The PTAB granted the motion, treating the settlement agreements as confidential.

patent terminated or settled · Apr 25, 2025

Apple Inc. v.Apex Beam Technologies LLC

· IPR2025-00909

Apple and Apex Beam Technologies jointly moved to terminate sixteen IPRs after reaching a settlement. The Board granted the motion, citing good cause and confidentiality protections.

patent instituted · Apr 24, 2025

Apple Inc. v.Allani, Ferid

· IPR2025-00857

The PTAB granted institution of IPR for Apple against Ferid Allani's patent, focusing on web navigation claims. The Board found reasonable likelihood of unpatentability in several dependent claims but rejected it for the independent claims.

patent denied · Apr 24, 2025

Apple Inc. v.Allani, Ferid

· IPR2025-00856

The PTAB denied Apple's IPR against Ferid Allani's patent, finding that the petitioner failed to demonstrate a reasonable likelihood of prevailing on any challenged claim.

patent instituted · Apr 4, 2025

Meta Platforms, Inc. v.Mullen Industries LLC

· IPR2025-00743

Meta Platforms successfully secured institution at the PTAB regarding its challenge to Mullen Industries' patent covering head-mounted displays and interactive systems. The Board found a reasonable likelihood of prevailing on multiple grounds, including obviousness (103) based on combinations of prior art.

patent instituted · Mar 27, 2025

Meta Platforms, Inc. v.Mullen Industries LLC

· IPR2025-00744

Meta Platforms initiated an IPR against Mullen Industries LLC's patent covering Augmented Reality systems and Head-Mounted Displays. The PTAB issued an institution decision, finding a reasonable likelihood of prevailing on at least one challenged claim based on obviousness over Fager and Martins.

patent instituted · Mar 26, 2025

Meta Platforms, Inc. v.Mullen Industries LLC

· IPR2025-00741

Meta Platforms successfully convinced the PTAB to institute review on all four claims of Patent No. 11376493 against Mullen Industries LLC, based on obviousness grounds (103). The Board clarified key claim terms, specifically defining 'physical playfield' broadly to encompass both bounded and unbounded spaces.

patent instituted · Mar 26, 2025

Meta Platforms, Inc. v.Mullen Industries LLC

· IPR2025-00740

Meta Platforms successfully secured the institution of IPRs against Mullen Industries LLC's patents related to Location-based Augmented Reality Systems. The Board found a reasonable likelihood of unpatentability on obviousness for key claims, particularly regarding the scope of 'physical playfield.'

patent instituted · Mar 26, 2025

Meta Platforms, Inc. v.Mullen Industries LLC

· IPR2025-00738

Meta Platforms successfully secured institution in this IPR against Mullen Industries' location-based AR patent. The Board adopted a broad construction of 'physical playfield,' favoring the petitioner’s argument that it does not need to be bounded.

patent instituted · Mar 25, 2025

Meta Platforms Inc. v.Mullen Industries LLC

· IPR2025-00739

The PTAB granted institution of IPR for Meta Platforms against Mullen Industries regarding location-based gaming patents. The Board found a reasonable likelihood of unpatentability over Jaszlics and Rallison.

patent instituted · Mar 25, 2025

Meta Platforms, Ic. v.Mullen Industries LLC

· IPR2025-00737

Meta Platforms, Inc. successfully navigated the institution phase of an IPR against Mullen Industries LLC's patent (8585476). The PTAB found a reasonable likelihood of prevailing on multiple claims based on obviousness over prior art combinations.

patent instituted · Mar 25, 2025

Meta Platforms, Inc. v.Mullen Industries LLC

· IPR2025-00703

Meta Platforms successfully petitioned to challenge Mullen Industries' patent in an IPR proceeding concerning location-based gaming technology. The PTAB found a reasonable likelihood of prevailing on at least one challenged claim, leading to the institution of the review.

patent instituted · Mar 25, 2025

Meta Platforms, Inc. v.Mullen Industries LLC

· IPR2025-00702

Meta Platforms successfully secured the institution of IPR against Mullen Industries' patent 10967270, challenging five claims based on obviousness over Nakamura and Benini.

patent all challenged claims unpatentable · Mar 13, 2025

Databricks, Inc. v.ByteWeavr, LLC

· IPR2025-00716

Databricks successfully challenged U.S. Patent 8,275,827, leading the PTAB to find all 14 challenged claims unpatentable based on anticipation by the Carter reference and obviousness over Carter and Pitzel.

patent mixed - some claims cancelled, some upheld · Mar 13, 2025

Databricks, Inc. v.ByteWeavr, LLC

· IPR2025-00716

Databricks successfully challenged 15 claims of the ’827 patent, finding them obvious over the OceanStore system. Anticipation arguments failed, and the Board adopted broader claim constructions that still rendered the claims unpatentable.

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