Valeo North America Inc. Victorious at the PTAB

HOUSTON, June 2, 2015 /PRNewswire/ — In a significant victory, auto parts maker Valeo North America Inc. won a series of patent challenges related to vehicle vision and imaging sys-tem technology in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, the company’s law firm Osha Liang LLP said today.

In a series of Final Written Decisions, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board invalidated 92 of 93 of claims from four Magna Electronics Inc. patents that had been asserted against Valeo in patent infringement litigation filed in Michigan federal court in March 2013. Valeo initiated the inter partes review proceedings in December 2013 and the Board instituted trial in May 2014.

“Petitioner [Valeo] has shown, by a preponderance of the evidence, that the instituted claims … are unpatentable,” the Board wrote of the claims.

The Osha Liang legal team representing Valeo includes partners Tammy J. Terry, Seema Mehta, Aly Dossa, all of the firm’s Houston office, and Peter C. Schechter, an Osha Liang partner resi-dent in New York.

Ms. Terry said, “Our team is extraordinarily pleased with this first set of rulings. This is, of course, just the beginning, and Valeo remains dedicated to vindicating its rights in other pending inter partes review proceedings and in district court.”

The 18-month-long dispute involves Magna’s U.S. Patent Nos. 7,991,522; 8,386,114; 7,859,565 and 7,877,175.

The decisions can be found in Valeo North America Inc. et al v. Magna Electronics Inc., IPR Case Numbers IPR2014-00220; IPR2014-00221; IPR2014-00222; and IPR2014-00227 & -00228 (consolidated), before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board.