Different panels of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board have, for the most part, agreed with each other on many of the key issues that arise in inter partes review proceedings. There are, however, instances of disagreement and an example of this type of disagreement arose in ServiceNow, Inc. v. Hewlett-Packard, Inc., IPR2015-00707, wherein this particular panel of PTAB judges decided that a copyright notice on a prior art reference did not suffice to establish that the reference was publicly available as of the date of the notice.

The prior art at issue included the date “July 2001″ on their face and also included a copyright date of “2001.” The Board agreed with Patent Owner that the indications of the availability of the references is inadmissible hearsay to the extent Petitioner relies on the date for the truth of that information. Order at 16. Notable in the Board’s analysis was the fact that the references included a statement that restricted the use and dissemination of the references.

The Board noted that at least one other panel agreed that a copyright notice as evidence that a reference was a printed publication as of a particular date is inadmissible hearsay. Standard Innovation Corp. v. Lelo, Inc., IPR201400148, Paper 41, at 13-16. The Board also noted, however, that other panels have determined that a copyright notice is prima facie evidence of publication. Ford Motor Co. v. Cruise Control Techs. LLC, IPR2014-00291, Paper 44, at 7-8; FLIR Sys., Inc. v. Leak Surveys, Inc., IPR2014-00411, Paper 9, at 18-19.

Ultimately, on the basis of the facts mentioned above, the Board decided that Petitioner had failed to establish that the exhibits at issue were publicly available more than one year prior to the priority date of the patent-at-issue. Order at 17.