Smart Meter Technologies | Duane Morris Green IP

The Patent Trial and Appeal Board has found parts of a smart power meter patent owned by Smart Meter Technologies (“SMT”) to be unpatentable.
A lawsuit over potential infringement of the patent by Duke Energy remains on hold pending an appeal of the Board’s decision.

In March 2016, Smart Meter Technologies, Inc. filed a lawsuit in federal court in Delaware alleging that Duke Energy infringed SMT’s U.S. Patent Number 7,058,524 by installing and operating automated power distribution equipment in residential installations. The lawsuit named the smart meters used by Duke as OpenWay® smart meters sold by Itron, Inc. Itron, which may have had an obligation to indemnify Duke, then petitioned the Patent Trial and Appeal Board to institute an inter partes review (“IPR”) of the ‘524 Patent, a procedure through which parties can request that the USPTO review an issued patent to challenge that the claims of the patent are not valid. Continue reading Patent Trial and Appeal Board Strikes Down Claims of Smart Meter Patent →

An inter partes review is an administrative proceeding that asks the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to invalidate a U.S. Patent. These reviews are commonly used by patent litigation defendants in an attempt to invalidate patent claims that have been asserted against them.
Itron requested inter partes review of a patent owned and asserted by Smart Meter Technologies. Itron’s request was granted.

The Patent Trial and Appeal Board has agreed to review the validity of a smart utility meter patent owned by Smart Meter Technologies, Inc. (“SMT”). The validity challenge was filed by Itron, Inc., a manufacturer of smart utility meters and provider of grid monitoring and control technologies. In a decision dated October 11, 2017, the Board found that Itron had brought forth sufficient evidence of the patent’s invalidity to warrant a review proceeding.

Continue reading Itron Earns Review of Smart Meter Patent →