PTAB challenges

Proceedings overview

There is one AIA trial proceeding on file for US patent 10614344. This proceeding is currently active with a status of "Trial Instituted." For a defendant, this means the patent is currently undergoing a validity challenge at the PTAB, but no claims have yet been invalidated or confirmed.

IPR2025-01573 — Tesla, Inc. v. Perceptive Automata LLC

• Type: Inter Partes Review
• Filed: 2025-09-30
• Status: Trial Instituted — The PTAB has determined that the petitioner has shown a reasonable likelihood that at least one challenged claim is unpatentable, and a trial has been formally initiated.
• Judge panel: Administrative Patent Judges Jennifer B. Myers, Joni Y. Chang, and Mark H. Praiss.
• Petition grounds: Tesla, Inc. challenged claims 1, 2, 4-13, 16-20, and 22-26 as unpatentable under 35 U.S.C. § 103 over the combination of U.S. Patent Publication No. 2017/0286820 (Krumm), U.S. Patent Publication No. 2017/0053154 (Cho), and U.S. Patent No. 8,674,809 (Tiwari).
• Institution decision: Instituted — 2026-03-22. The panel found that the Petition demonstrated a reasonable likelihood that claims 1, 2, 4-13, 16-20, and 22-26 are unpatentable as obvious over Krumm, Cho, and Tiwari. The Board was persuaded by Tesla's arguments regarding the combination of references teaching the collection of human response data for training machine learning models for predicting human behavior in road scenes.
• Final Written Decision: Not yet issued.
• Settlement / termination: Not applicable.
• Appeal: Not applicable.
• Defensive value: This proceeding is ongoing and currently challenges a significant portion of the patent's claims. While no claims are invalidated yet, the institution of trial means the PTAB believes there's a good chance claims 1, 2, 4-13, 16-20, and 22-26 will be found unpatentable. A defendant facing assertion of this patent should closely monitor this IPR, as its outcome could significantly impact the patent's enforceability.

Strategic summary

Currently, claims 1, 2, 4-13, 16-20, and 22-26 of US patent 10614344 are under challenge in IPR2025-01573 and have been deemed likely unpatentable at the institution stage. Claims 3, 14, 15, and 21 were not challenged in this IPR and thus remain untested. If the PTAB ultimately issues a Final Written Decision invalidating the challenged claims, it would significantly narrow the patent's scope, potentially eliminating many infringement theories.

The estoppel landscape for IPR2025-01573 will apply to Tesla, Inc. and any parties in privity with them under 35 U.S.C. § 315(e)(2). This means they would be barred from asserting, in any other civil action or ITC proceeding, that a claim is invalid on any ground that was raised or reasonably could have been raised during this IPR. For other potential defendants, the grounds challenged in this IPR (obviousness over Krumm, Cho, and Tiwari for claims 1, 2, 4-13, 16-20, and 22-26) are currently being litigated.

The active IPR filed by Tesla, Inc. indicates a significant player in the automotive industry is directly challenging this patent. The fact that the PTAB instituted trial on numerous claims suggests a strong challenge to the patent's validity.

Recommended next steps

The IPR2025-01573 proceeding is currently in the trial stage. The PTAB has a statutory deadline of one year from institution to issue a Final Written Decision, which means a decision is expected by approximately March 22, 2027.

If you are a defendant facing assertion of this patent, you should:

• Closely monitor IPR2025-01573 for updates, including any further briefing, oral argument scheduling, and the eventual issuance of the Final Written Decision. The outcome will directly affect the patent's validity.
• Consider the implications of the PTAB's institution decision. The fact that claims 1, 2, 4-13, 16-20, and 22-26 have been instituted for obviousness provides significant leverage in any ongoing or prospective licensing negotiations or litigation.
• The Institution Decision can be found on the USPTO PTAB Decisions portal under case number IPR2025-01573.