Apple wants Supreme Court to throw out SPIP petition

Apple and Cisco Systems have urged the U.S. Supreme Court to throw out SPIP Litigation Group’s petition claiming that the Federal Circuit wrongly offered no explanation when it upheld a lower court finding that the tech giants didn’t infringe its internet voice-calling patents, according to law360.com (a subscription is required to read the entire article).

The SPIP (Straight Path IP Group) petition involves four patents claiming a new method for establishing point-to-point communications over a computer network. The patents were upheld as valid by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) and by two decisions of the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. 

Here’s what the petition says, in part: Claiming infringement of its patents, petitioner sued Apple and Cisco Systems in the Northern District of California, the defendants’ home district. In an unreported decision, the District Judge granted summary judgment to Apple and Cisco Systems. He ruled that statements made by petitioner’s counsel during oral argument in one of petitioner’s successful appeals to the Federal Circuit narrowed the petitioner’s patent claims so that the Apple and Cisco systems did not infringe petitioner’s patents.”