By: Mel R. Quintos

In the precedential case of Bosch Automotive Service Solutions, LLC v. Joseph Matal, decided on December 22, 2017, Bosch appealed a decision from an inter partes review (IPR) of its U.S. Patent No. 6,904,796 (the ‟796 patent), where the U.S. PTO Patent Trial and Appeal Board (“the Board”) found all of the challenged claims unpatentable.

The ‟796 patent, entitled “Remote Tire Monitoring System,” relates to a handheld tool for: (i) activating remote tire pressure monitoring (RTMS) tire sensors, and (ii) communicating with a vehicle‟s RTMS receiving unit. The ‟796 patent claims to be a “universal activation tool,” which allows “a technician [to move] from working on one vehicle to another vehicle that has a different RTMS activation system, [by having the technician] simply switch between different modes of operation using a switch on the tool.” —click here to read more—