By: Darren Crew

In Collabo Innovations, Inc. v. Sony Corporation, decided on February 25, 2020, Collabo Innovations, Inc. (“Collabo”) owns U.S. Patent No. 7,023,034 (“USP ‘034”). Sony Corporation (“Sony”) filed petitions for inter partes review of USP ‘034, alleging that claims 1-18 were obvious and unpatentable based on Japanese Pat. App. Pub. No. H11-087674 (“Abe”) in combination with other prior art. The U.S. PTO Patent Trial and Appeal Board (“PTAB”) concluded that claims 1-18 of USP ‘034 were obvious and unpatentable. Collabo appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (“CAFC”). In this case, the CAFC affirmed the inter partes review final written decisions of the PTAB.

I. Facts USP ‘034 is directed to a solid-state imaging device having light-sensitive elements arranged in a matrix form. USP ‘034 claims a pair of “reflecting walls” that exist over each light-sensitive element, separating each element from adjacent light-sensitive elements. The reflecting walls are intended to help light enter the aperture of a desired photo-diode and prevent color mixing.–click here to read more–