Judge Profile

Kristina M. Kalan

58 IP cases indexed. Covers patent matters.

Cases Presided Over

58 cases indexed | Page 2 of 2

patent terminated or settled · Mar 24, 2025

PacifiCorp et al. v.MES, Inc.

· IPR2025-00687

MidAmerican Energy settled its IPR against BirchTech’s ’370 patent, prompting the Board to terminate the case for MidAmerican while the proceeding remains active against PacifiCorp.

patent terminated or settled · Mar 24, 2025

PacifiCorp et al. v.MES, Inc.

· IPR2025-00687

Utility companies settled multiple IPRs against BirchTech’s patents before trial. The Board granted a joint request to treat the settlement as confidential and terminated the cases for the settling petitioners.

patent terminated or settled · Mar 24, 2025

PacifiCorp et al. v.MES, Inc.

· IPR2025-00688

Utility consortiums including PacifiCorp settled IPRs covering several power‑grid patents, resulting in the termination of the proceeding for two petitioners while the Board kept the case open for the remaining parties. The settlement agreement was designated business‑confidential.

patent denied · Mar 24, 2025

PacifiCorp et al. v.MES, Inc.

· IPR2025-00688

The PTAB denied institution of an IPR petition challenging a mercury removal patent (10933370) because the petitioner had filed a second, ranked petition on the same claims. The Board followed the Director's instruction to select only one petition.

patent instituted · Mar 24, 2025

PacifiCorp et al. v.MES, Inc.

· IPR2025-00688

The PTAB decided to institute the IPR petition against Birchtech Corp.'s '370 patent, finding that PacifiCorp et al. met the standard for reasonable likelihood of prevailing on all asserted grounds. The Board also addressed and rejected arguments from Patent Owner regarding written description and enablement issues concerning bromide compounds.

patent instituted · Mar 24, 2025

PacifiCorp et al. v.MES, Inc.

· IPR2025-00687

The PTAB instituted IPR on PacifiCorp's claims against Birchtech Corp. regarding flue gas desulfurization technology, overcoming a time-bar defense raised by the Patent Owner. The Board found Petitioner met the reasonable likelihood standard for institution across multiple grounds of anticipation and obviousness.

patent instituted · Mar 24, 2025

PacifiCorp et al. v.MES, Inc.

· IPR2025-00687

PacifiCorp and co-petitioners successfully challenged the '370 patent, demonstrating a reasonable likelihood of prevailing on multiple grounds of obviousness (103). The Board found that combinations of prior art references like Vosteen589/Starns or Downs-Boiler/Mass-EPA rendered key claims obvious.

patent denied · Mar 1, 2025

Zhuhai CosMX Battery Co., Ltd. v.Ningde Amperex Technology Ltd.

· IPR2025-00405

The PTAB denied Zhuhai CosMX Battery’s petition for inter partes review of Ningde Amperex’s lithium‑battery electrolyte patent, finding no reasonable likelihood of success on any claim.

patent denied · Jan 28, 2025

Zhuhai CosMX Battery Co., Ltd. v.Ningde Amperex Technology Ltd.

· IPR2025-00431

The PTAB denied Zhuhai CosMX Battery’s petition to review Ningde Amperex’s 10,833,363 battery electrolyte patent, finding no reasonable likelihood of success.

patent denied · Jan 4, 2025

Zhuhai CosMX Battery Co., Ltd. v.Ningde Amperex Technology Ltd.

· IPR2025-00722

The PTAB denied Zhuhai CosMX Battery’s petition to invalidate Ningde Amperex’s 2020 electrolyte patent, finding no reasonable likelihood of success. The Board held that the prior art did not adequately disclose all claim elements, especially the propyl propionate ratio.

patent all challenged claims unpatentable · Dec 23, 2024

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. et al. v.Molecular Rebar Design, LLC

· IPR2025-00358

Samsung successfully challenged all 16 claims of Molecular Rebar Design’s ’282 patent covering carbon‑nanotube binders for batteries. The Board found the claims obvious over prior art and adopted a construction that “discrete” does not require non‑attachment.

patent all challenged claims upheld · Dec 23, 2024

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. et al. v.Molecular Rebar Design, LLC

· IPR2025-00357

Samsung’s IPR challenge to U.S. Patent 8,968,924, covering lithium‑ion battery compositions with discrete carbon nanotubes, was rejected. The Board found no obviousness for any of the five challenged claims, leaving the patent intact.

patent all challenged claims upheld · Dec 23, 2024

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. et al. v.Molecular Rebar Design, LLC

· IPR2025-00356

Samsung’s challenge to Molecular Rebar Design’s lithium‑ion battery patent was rejected. The PTAB held that none of the eight claims were obvious over the cited prior art, leaving the patent fully intact.

patent all challenged claims upheld · Dec 23, 2024

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. et al. v.Molecular Rebar Design, LLC

· IPR2025-00359

Samsung’s IPR challenge to Molecular Rebar Design’s lithium‑ion battery patent was rejected; the Board found no unpatentable claims after concluding the petitioner’s obviousness arguments were unsupported.

patent all challenged claims unpatentable · Dec 6, 2024

LG Energy Solution, Ltd. v.Molecular Rebar Design, LLC

· IPR2024-01012

LG Energy Solution successfully challenged the ’282 battery‑binder patent, with the PTAB finding all 16 claims unpatentable based on obviousness over multiple carbon‑nanotube references.

patent all challenged claims upheld · Dec 6, 2024

LG Energy Solution, Ltd. v.Molecular Rebar Design, LLC

· IPR2024-01013

The PTAB affirmed all claims of LG Energy Solution’s lithium‑ion battery patent after finding the challenger’s obviousness arguments unsupported. The Board emphasized that Ohata’s masterbatch embeds carbon nanotubes, preventing the required ionic attachment, and rejected the petitioner’s speculation about resin removal.

patent all challenged claims upheld · Dec 6, 2024

LG Energy Solution, Ltd. v.Molecular Rebar Design, LLC

· IPR2024-01011

LG Energy Solution’s challenge to the ’924 lithium‑ion battery patent was rejected. The Board found no sufficient evidence of obviousness over the cited prior art, leaving all five claims intact.

patent Final Written Decision · Sep 18, 2024

R.J. Reynolds Vapor Company et al. v.Healthier Choices Management Corp.

· IPR2024-01458

The PTAB issued a Final Written Decision finding all four challenged claims of U.S. Patent No. 9538788 unpatentable under 35 U.S.C. § 103. The Petitioner successfully demonstrated obviousness by combining various prior art references to show that the claimed vaporizing device was predictable in light of existing technology.

patent Final Written Decision · Aug 8, 2024

Hanwha Solutions Corporation v.Maxeon Solar Pte. Ltd.

· IPR2024-01203

The PTAB issued a Final Written Decision finding that claims 1-11 are unpatentable over combinations of prior art references (Froitzheim, Gan, Sheats). Claim 12 was not shown to be unpatentable. The Board found the Petitioner met its burden regarding reasonable expectation of success for several claims.

patent Final Written Decision · Aug 8, 2024

Hanwha Solutions Corporation v.Maxeon Solar Pte. Ltd.

· IPR2024-01199

The PTAB issued a Final Written Decision finding all 20 challenged claims unpatentable based on obviousness (103). The Petitioner successfully demonstrated that various combinations of prior art—including Froitzheim, Gan, Smith, and Li—would render the Maxeon patent obvious to a person skilled in the art.

patent final · Aug 8, 2024

Hanwha Solutions Corporation v.Maxeon Solar Pte. Ltd. et al.

· IPR2024-01198

The PTAB issued a final written decision denying Petitioner's challenge to claims 10-20 of Maxeon Solar Pte. Ltd.'s patent. The Board construed the key term 'metal impurities' as 'unintentional foreign metals,' rejecting arguments that intentional dopants qualified. Ultimately, the Petitioner failed to demonstrate unpatentability by a preponderance of the evidence.

patent final · Jul 19, 2024

Canadian Solar Inc. et al. v.Maxeon Solar Pte. Ltd.

· IPR2024-01194

The PTAB issued a Final Written Decision denying the Petitioner's arguments that claims 10-16 and 19 were unpatentable. The Board found insufficient motivation in the prior art to combine references, particularly regarding optimal dopant concentrations for solar cell fabrication techniques.

patent all challenged claims upheld · Jul 6, 2024

LG Energy Solution, Ltd. v.Molecular Rebar Design, LLC

· IPR2024-01006

The PTAB issued a final written decision in IPR2024‑01006, finding that none of the challenged claims of the ‘909 lithium‑ion battery patent are unpatentable. LG Energy Solution’s obviousness arguments over multiple prior‑art combinations were rejected.

patent final · Jun 25, 2024

Canadian Solar Inc. et al. v.Maxeon Solar Pte. Ltd.

· IPR2024-01038

The PTAB issued a Final Written Decision rejecting all challenged claims (10-16 and 19) in this IPR regarding solar cell fabrication techniques. The Board found that the Petitioner failed to provide sufficient motivation to combine prior art references, particularly concerning optimal dopant concentrations.

patent Final Written Decision · Jun 24, 2024

Canadian Solar Inc. et al. v.Maxeon Solar Pte. Ltd.

· IPR2024-01040

The PTAB issued a Final Written Decision finding claims 9-20 of the patent unpatentable based on obviousness (35 U.S.C. § 103). The Board found that substituting known elements, such as polysilicon emitters for diffused emitters, was predictable and rendered the claimed technology obvious over combinations of prior art references like Gan and Froitzheim.

patent Final Written Decision · Jun 24, 2024

Canadian Solar Inc et al. v.Maxeon Solar Pte. Ltd.

· IPR2024-01039

The PTAB issued a Final Written Decision finding that claims 9, 10, and 11 of patent 8222516 were obvious over the combination of Froitzheim and Gan. The Board rejected the challenge to claim 12 due to specific limitations in the prior art references.

patent instituted · Mar 2, 2024

Monolithic Power Systems, Inc. v.Greenthread, LLC

· IPR2024-00468

Monolithic Power Systems successfully instituted an IPR against Greenthread’s 8,421,195 patent covering CMOS devices with graded dopant regions, citing obviousness over multiple prior‑art references.

patent denied · Jan 31, 2024

ASUSTeK Computer Inc. et al. v.LiTL LLC

· IPR2024-00532

ASUSTeK Computer Inc. failed to convince the PTAB that a Person of Ordinary Skill in the Art (POSA) would be motivated to modify Lane's hinge mechanism using Misawa's single-pivot design. The Board denied institution, finding that the proposed modification would destroy the intended functionality of the original invention.

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