Dell, Inc. v. Acceleron, LLC., No. 15-1513 (Fed. Cir. 2016)
Annotate this CaseAcceleron’s 021 patent discloses a computer network appliance containing a number of hot-swappable components, meaning that those components can be removed and replaced without turning off or resetting the computer system as a whole. The Patent Trial and Appeal Board instituted inter partes review of the patent based on Dell’s petition under 35 U.S.C. 311 and confirmed the validity of claims 14–17 and 34–36, while cancelling claims 3 and 20 as anticipated. The Federal Circuit vacated cancellation of claim 20 and remanded for reconsideration of anticipation under the correct claim construction of “a microcontroller module and a dedicated ethernet path, wherein the dedicated ethernet path is separate from a switched fast ethernet connection and provides the microcontroller module with a connection to remotely poll the CPU module, the power module and the ethernet switch module.” The court also vacated cancellation of claim 3, remanding for reconsideration of anticipation as appropriate. The court otherwise affirmed, rejecting Dell’s challenge to the Board’s finding that the key prior-art reference fails to disclose a particular claim element.
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