On Wednesday, September 23, 2015 the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (Board) of the United States Patent and Trademark Office invalidated a patent owned by Intellectual Ventures that had been asserted against a number of banks in district court litigation. Kutak Rock attorney Jason Jackson, head of the firm’s Post-Grant Proceeding Group, served as lead counsel for petitioners First National Bank of Omaha, Compass Bank, and Commerce Bank in the proceeding.

The patent at issue was directed to Internet firewalls. In its Final Written Decision, the Board found that the patent was invalid as anticipated by a 1997 publication of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. The Board also found that the patent was invalid as obvious in view of the IEEE paper and another article describing a prior art firewall. The case is Compass Bank et al. v. Intellectual Ventures II LLC, case number IPR2014-00786.