Petitioner’s Failure to Identify Real Party in Interest Requires Termination of IPR

The Board vacated earlier decisions instituting IPR because the petitioner failed to identify a real party in interest. "[W]e determine that [the] Petitions do not identify all RPIs. Thus the Petitions are incomplete pursuant to 312(a), which dictates that we cannot consider the Petitions. . . . Granting [the petitioner] a month within which to correct its incomplete Petitions is futile in this instance because, even if corrected, the earliest filing dates that could be accorded to the Petitions would not fall within the one-year period specified by the 35 USC 315(b) statutory-bar. Because we cannot consider the petitions, we terminate these trials. Furthermore, because the Petitions should not have been considered at institution, we vacate our Decisions on Institution."

Petition for Inter Partes Review by GEA Process Engineering, Inc., IPR2014-00055 (PTAB February 11, 2015, Order) (Elluru, APJ)