案件資訊：
上訴人：XACTWARE SOLUTIONS, INC.
被上訴人/專利權人：EAGLE VIEW TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
系爭專利：US8,825,454、US8,818,770、US8,209,152、US9,135,737
判決日：March 6, 2019
對於PTAB對4件IPR的最終決定 - 確認多項專利範圍的有效性，Xactware Solutions, Inc.提起上訴。
系爭專利專利權人名稱為「Eagle view」就如同他們的服務，利用空拍機量測房屋，作為估測建制房屋設備，甚至是房屋保險，例如US8,825,454，蠻有趣的，提出使用者介面，能夠顯示航拍圖以及根據航拍產生屋頂模型，進行圖像傾斜校正、確認屋頂截面間距、建構框架線條與屋頂模型。
主要上訴議題是103答辯意見使用的輔助性要因（secondary consideration）的證據與專利範圍的「關聯性（nexus）」，也就是要求專利權人提出非顯而易見性的輔助性要因證據與專利範圍之間的推論（"required for a patent owner to be given the presumption of nexus as to evidence it offers to show secondary considerations of non-obviousness."）。
專利權人Eagle View Technologies強調所述「secondary consideration」證據與專利範圍具有關聯性，理由是，專利範圍描述的就是他們的產品。反之，提起專利無效主張的Xactware僅質疑Eagle View找得專家的信用而無法證明產品就是實現專利描述的發明。
（圖片截自：https://www.eagleview.com/）
舉例來說（這幾件系爭專利內容一致，範圍描述也很像），'454的Claim 1界定一種電腦實現屋頂估算報告的方法，方法包括「顯示」多個屋頂航拍、顯示屋頂特徵的線條、可以隨著使用者輸入改變航拍圖與線條特徵、關聯屋頂線條與特徵位置，最後產生屋頂估算報告。
1. A computer-implemented method in a roof estimate report system including at least one processor and a memory coupled to the at least one processor, the method comprising:
displaying, by the at least one processor of the roof estimate report system, a plurality of aerial images of a roof at the same time on a single display, each of the aerial images providing a different view, taken from a different angle of the same roof;
displaying, by the at least one processor of the roof estimate report system, respective line drawings representing features of the roof, the respective line drawings overlying a first and a second aerial image of the plurality of aerial images of the roof on the single display, the line drawing overlying the first aerial image of the roof having features in common with the line drawing overlying the second aerial image of the roof;
in response to user input, changing, by the at least one processor of the roof estimate report system, the line drawing representing a feature of the roof that overlies the first aerial image of the roof;
correlating, by the at least one processor of the roof estimate report system, a location of the feature on the roof represented by the line drawing that has been changed to a location of a corresponding feature represented by the line drawing overlying the second aerial image;
based on the correlation, changing, by the at least one processor of the roof estimate report system, the corresponding feature in the line drawing overlying the second aerial image according to the change of the line drawing representing the feature of the roof that overlies the first aerial image; and
generating and outputting a roof estimate report using a report generation engine, wherein the roof estimate report includes one or more top plan views of a model of the roof annotated with numerical values for corresponding slope, area, or lengths of the edges of at least some of the plurality of planar roof sections of the model of the roof.
（編按，稍微瀏覽了一下Eagle View公司網頁，服務琳瑯滿目，在不是很瞭解航拍領域的我來說，Eagle View是將航拍機商業應用很成功的公司）
- CAFC法官的意見是，專利與secondary consideration的關聯性推斷不是PTAB主要關注的問題，而以證據來看，支持PTAB有關聯的決定。
"The evidentiary showing necessary to earn the presumption of nexus was simply not at issue before the Board. Second, substantial evidence supports the Board’s finding of nexus based on the limited evidentiary record on this issue."
- 基於顯而易見性審查，法官認為如'770案，其中有引證前案並未揭示的技術特徵（如moving的特徵），同意PTAB的判斷（不考慮無效異議人的主張）。
'770的Claim 1：
1. A computer-implemented process in a roof estimation system comprising:
displaying, by the roof estimation system, a graphical user interface including a first aerial image of a roof structure of a building and also at least one first visual marker that is moveable by a user in a same display window as the first aerial image while said first aerial image is displayed within the graphical user interface;
moving the first visual marker with respect to the first aerial image of the roof structure to a first location in response to input from the user;
storing data in a memory of the computer of the first location to which the first visual marker was moved;
displaying a second aerial image of the roof structure of the building, the second aerial image providing a different view of the roof than the first aerial image; and
displaying a location of a second visual marker on the roof structure of the building in the second aerial image of the roof structure based on an indication received from the stored data in the memory of the first location on the displayed first aerial image to which the user had moved the first visual marker; and
generating and outputting a roof estimate report using a report generation engine, wherein the roof estimate report includes one or more top plan views of a model of the roof annotated with numerical values for corresponding slope, area, or lengths of the edges of at least some of the plurality of planar roof sections of the model of the roof.
my two cents:
其實，CAFC並未有多明確的見解，只是整體讓我瞭解到「產品」與「專利」雖非必要具有關聯，但是明確的關聯性（如專利圖式明確是由實拍抓取）讓證據自己說話。
有關「Presumption of Nexus」，patently-o文章有很棒的整理：
"Secondary indicia of non-obvousness involve two important elements (1) the indicia itself (such as commercial success or industry praise of a product); and (2) a nexus between the indicia and the claimed invention at issue. "
"the Federal Circuit has created a presumption-of-nexus doctrine. We assume a nexus if the patentee shows that the successful/praised product (1) “embodies the claimed features” and (2) is “coextensive with the claimed features.”"（商業上成功與讚譽等secondary consideration證據：實現專利特徵以及與專利特徵共同延伸）
本部落格對nexus也有不少報導：
- 客觀的非顯而易見事實 - Novartis v. Torrent Pharma, Apotex, and Mylan (Fed. Cir. 2017)（https://enpan.blogspot.com/2017/04/novartis-v-torrent-pharma-apotex-and.html）
- 「輔助性判斷因素」討論 - 從PTAB案例來看（https://enpan.blogspot.com/2017/08/ptab.html）
- 商業成功的答辯要件 - IN RE HUAI-HUNG KAO (Fed. Cir. 2011)（https://enpan.blogspot.com/2016/07/in-re-huai-hung-kao-fed-cir-2011.html）
- 使用「無法預期的功效」作為進步性答辯的討論（https://enpan.blogspot.com/2017/08/blog-post_31.html）
- 長期需求卻沒有成功解決的案例討論（https://enpan.blogspot.com/2016/06/blog-post_14.html）
參考資料：
https://patentlyo.com/patent/2019/03/presumption-nexus-presumptions.html
Ron
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