Potential Delay in Resolving Reexam Due to America Invents Act Does Not Warrant Denial of Stay Pending Reexam

The court granted defendants' motion to stay pending inter partes reexamination and rejected plaintiff's argument that the influx of reexamination requests due to the America Invents Act caused plaintiff undue prejudice. "[Plaintiff] argues that the recent influx of requests for reexamination at the PTO will cause extraordinary delay. The [AIA] amended the inter partes reexamination process for all requests filed after September 15, 2012. Because of this deadline, the PTO received an unusually large volume of reexamination requests in September 2012. At oral argument, [plaintiff] argued that this high volume of requests will cause the PTO’s reexaminations of the [patents-in-suit] to extend to 7 to 10 years. However, the actual effect of the Act on the PTO’s reexamination process remains to be seen. . . . Given the uncertainty of the PTO’s future workload, [plaintiff] has not provided persuasive evidence that the reexaminations of the [patents] will be pending for nearly a decade. On the other hand, [defendant] promptly requested the reexaminations after the dispute between the parties emerged, and [it] has not engaged in improper litigation tactics that might otherwise warrant declining a request for a stay."

Polaris Industries, Inc. v. BRP US Inc., et. al., 0-12-cv-01405 (MND October 29, 2012, Order) (Montgomery, J.).