Chicago-based intellectual property litigation firm AddyHart P.C. today learned that the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) of the US Patent and Trademark Office has decided in favor of its client, Atlanta, Ga.-based Gebo Cermex USA and Gebo Packaging Solutions France S.A.S. (“Gebo”), denying a petition to institute inter partes review (IPR) of Gebo’s patent for a low-pressure dynamic accumulation table used in conveyor systems that had been filed by Lynchburg, Va.-based Alliance Industrial Corporation, ACMI S.p.A., based in Fornovo Taro, Parma, Italy, and ACMI’s U.S. subsidiary ACMI USA, Inc.
In the PTAB decision, the Board denied Alliance Industrial and ACMI USA and ACMI S.p.A.’s petition under 35 U.S.C. § 314, determining that “Petitioner has not shown a reasonable likelihood that it would prevail in showing the unpatentability of at least one of the challenged claims.”
Gebo was granted U.S. Patent No. 6,168,005 B1 (the “’005 patent”) for a low-pressure dynamic accumulation table used in conveyor systems for production, packaging and fulfillment, and has enforced its rights in the ’005 Patent multiple times, and most recently against ACMI and Alliance. In response, ACMI and Alliance requested inter partes review of claims 1, 2, 4, 6–8, and 17 of the ‘005 patent.
Accumulation tables provide a means of buffering products between production machines to account for the machines’ different speeds, and are used to help manage temporary maintenance stoppages.
“We are very pleased with this decision in favor of Gebo, as it demonstrates the validity of our client’s patent and the integrity of Gebo’s claims,” noted Meredith Addy, partner and a co-founder of AddyHart P.C. “The decision is further noteworthy in light of the significant increase in IPRs instituted since the 2011 passage of the America Invents Act.”
The case is Alliance Industrial Corp., ACMI USA, Inc., and ACMI S.P.A. v. Gebo Cermex USA, Inc., Gebo Cermex Canada, Inc., and Gebo Packaging Solutions France S.A.S., IPR2019-01647. The PTAB panel included APJ Goodson and APJs Linda E. Horner and Patrick R. Scanlon. Gebo Cermex was represented by Meredith Addy and Robert Hart of AddyHart P.C.