Stratasys has announced that the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) of the United States Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) has denied Afinia’s requests to challenge validity of its 3D printing IP.
The appeal board has rejected the 3D printing company’s attempt for inter partes review of three important FDM technology patents directed to liquefier structure, temperature control, and tool paths for constructing part perimeters.
Reviewing the validity of claims in the patents, the PTAB reasoned that Afinia “has not demonstrated a reasonable likelihood of prevailing,” with respect to any of the challenged claims, in the Stratasys patents.
Afinia
Afinia 3D printer.
"We are very pleased with the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s decision," said Soonhee Jang, Stratasys Vice President and Chief IP Counsel. "These dismissals are evidence of the strength of our patent portfolio.”
These same three patents are asserted by Stratasys in an ongoing case of Stratasys, Inc. v. Microboards Technology, LLC dba Afinia, pending in the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota where Stratasys continues to pursue a relief from the court involving Afinia’s infringement on three Stratasys patents.
Stratasys' co-founder Scott Crump, invented Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) in the 1980s. Decades later, Stratasys' FDM solutions are the most widely adopted 3D printing solutions in the industry.
