Patent case: In re Facebook, Inc., USA

In a challenge to Facebook’s patent application for a method for arranging images contiguously in an array, a prior art reference—a patent application filed by Perrodin that related to placing images on a grid and did not require contiguity in response to resizing or rearranging in all cases—could not have disclosed the limitation of Facebook’s application that required all of the image elements to be contiguous, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has ruled. Therefore, a patent examiner erred in rejecting Facebook’s application for obviousness and anticipation, and the Patent Trial and Appeal Board erred in affirming that rejection. The case was reversed and remanded for appropriate further action (In re Facebook, Inc., August 14, 2018, Prost, S.).

Case date: 14 August 2018

Case number: No. 2017-2524

Court: United States Court of Appeals, Federal Circuit

A full summary of this case has been published on Kluwer IP Law.