Federal Circuit Hands SpaceTime3D Mixed Results in Patent Disputes
The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) has handed SpaceTime3D, Inc. mixed results in two non-precedential decisions involving graphical user interface patents challenged by Apple and Google.
In the first case, Apple Inc. v. SpaceTime3D, Inc., the court affirmed a Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) decision upholding claims 1-13 of US Patent No. 8,881,048 but finding claims 14-18 obvious.
The patent is directed to a graphical user interface that lets users navigate webpages in both two-dimensional and simulated three-dimensional spaces.
The court agreed with the Board's reading of claim 1, which requires 'rendering the first and second webpages,' then capturing images from them, and later displaying a window containing 'the rendered first webpage.'
In the second case, SpaceTime3D v. Apple, the CAFC affirmed the Board's determination that all challenged claims of US Patent Nos. 9,304,654 and 9,696,868 were obvious.