Jones Day
Palo alto Networks (PAN), filed a petition to inter partes review Centripetal Networks patent–U.S. Patent No. Patent No. 10,530,903 is a computer system that correlates packets across communication networks using a network device with multiple hosts. The PTAB upheld patent claims. It found that PAN did not show that the prior art taught, or suggested, transmitting an indication that the first host was the source of malicious activity. PAN appealed. The Federal Circuit addressed the PTAB’s motivation to merge analysis, in which the PTAB merely stated “the necessary bridge” between the two references was missing. The Federal Circuit couldn’t tell if the PTAB had found no motivation to combine, and held that it failed to make a clearly defined finding on whether a person with ordinary skill in this art would have been motivated by adding a step from another reference (Sutton) to notify a network administrator about the identity of the host after correlating packets. The Federal Circuit addressed whether the PTAB had correctly determined that a reference (Paxton), as modified by a reference (Sutton), would have taught the recited limitation of “transmitting responsively to the correlation”. The Federal Circuit ruled that the PTAB erred in analyzing the two references separately, rather than the combination.
