Federal Circuit Affirms IPR Victory for L&P Client ClearOne

Today, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed a final written decision by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) in IPR2017-01785 (Federal Circuit Case No. 2019-1755).  The IPR petition was filed by Shure Inc. attempting to invalidate ClearOne’s U.S. Patent No. 9,264,553 after ClearOne had accused Shure of infringing some of its patents relating to beamforming microphone array technology.  The companies sell systems embodying such technology for use in conference rooms, board rooms, and other settings where unobtrusive yet high-quality audio conferencing is desired. 

The ’553 Patent claims a combination of a beamforming microphone array, acoustic echo cancellation, and signal selection. 

The PTAB upheld all claims of the ’553 Patent, and the Federal Circuit summarily affirmed without a written opinion two days after the oral argument.  The case was argued by Matt Phillips of Laurence & Phillips IP Law for ClearOne and Meredith Addy of AddyHart for Shure.  Phillips commented, “We felt confident based on the briefing, and then even better after the oral argument, but it is always a relief to get the decision, especially so promptly.  The court saw the case as we did – an easy affirmance.”

ClearOne’s CEO explained, “The Federal Circuit has essentially dealt a knock-out blow to Shure's campaign against ClearOne’s ’553 Patent in the PTO.  This decision should put an end to these misguided efforts.  Shure tried desperately to invalidate one of our broadest BMA patents in the PTO and lost.”  For more information, see ClearOne’s new release regarding the case.

The briefs from the case are available below.