PTAB challenges

Proceedings overview

Two AIA trial proceedings have been filed against US patent 11012252. One proceeding is currently in the "Trial Instituted" status, while the other was "Terminated-Settled" prior to institution. This indicates an active challenge to the patent's validity, but no claims have been formally invalidated by the PTAB to date. The defensive posture for a defendant is mixed: some claims are under active PTAB review, potentially leading to future invalidation, while other challenges have been resolved by settlement without a merits decision.

IPR2025-01219 — Marvell Semiconductor, Inc. v. Credo Technology Group Ltd.

• Type: Inter Partes Review
• Filed: 2025-08-07
• Status: Trial Instituted (The PTAB has decided to initiate a trial to review the patentability of the challenged claims. The last modification date was 2026-05-15.)
• Judge panel: The specific judge panel information is not available from the provided search results.
• Petition grounds: Marvell Semiconductor, Inc. challenged claims 1-4, 6-9, and 11-14 as obvious under 35 U.S.C. § 103, relying on the combination of U.S. Patent 8,516,238 (Cornelius) and a 2015 Intel whitepaper titled “High-Speed Serial Bus Repeater Primer” (Samaan). An additional ground of obviousness under § 103 was asserted for claims 1-14 over U.S. Patent 9,882,706 (Lugthart) in view of U.S. Patent 7,445,389 (Aronson). Furthermore, claims 5 and 10 were challenged as obvious over Cornelius and Samaan, further in view of Lugthart, specifically addressing a "per-lane symbol rate in excess of 50 GBd" limitation.
• Institution decision: Instituted on 2026-02-03. The PTAB initiated a trial after finding a reasonable likelihood that the petitioner would prevail on at least one claim challenged.
• Final Written Decision (if issued): A Final Written Decision has not yet been issued, as the proceeding is in the "Trial Instituted" phase.
• Settlement / termination: Not settled; the trial has been instituted.
• Appeal: Not applicable at this stage.
• Defensive value: This proceeding signifies a substantial challenge to the patentability of claims 1-14. If Marvell Semiconductor, Inc. prevails, these claims could be canceled, significantly weakening the patent. For a defendant, this creates an opportunity to potentially leverage a future invalidation decision.

IPR2025-01386 — Volex plc v. Credo Technology Group Ltd.

• Type: Inter Partes Review
• Filed: 2025-08-07
• Status: Terminated-Settled (The proceeding was closed due to a settlement agreement between the parties. The last modification date was 2025-09-15, and the termination date was 2025-09-09.)
• Judge panel: The specific judge panel information is not available, as the case was terminated prior to institution of trial.
• Petition grounds: While a petition was filed, the proceeding was terminated before the PTAB made an institution decision. Therefore, the specific claims challenged and statutory bases were not formally adjudicated, and detailed grounds are not available from the search results for the petition itself.
• Institution decision: Denied (implicitly, as it was terminated prior to institution of trial).
• Final Written Decision (if issued): No Final Written Decision was issued due to the settlement and termination of the proceeding prior to institution.
• Settlement / termination: The proceeding was terminated-settled on 2025-09-09. The decision document indicates that a joint request to treat the settlement agreement as business confidential information was granted.
• Appeal: Not applicable, as the proceeding was settled and terminated prior to institution.
• Defensive value: The settlement of this IPR means that the challenged claims were not formally invalidated by the PTAB. However, the confidential nature of the settlement terms prevents an understanding of any agreement made regarding the patent's validity or enforcement. For a defendant, this means these claims were not "hardened" by a PTAB decision confirming their patentability, but also not canceled.

Strategic summary

Currently, no claims of US patent 11012252 have been formally CANCELED by a Final Written Decision from the PTAB. Claims 1-14 of the patent are presently under review in IPR2025-01219, with trial having been instituted. This means their patentability is actively being challenged based on obviousness grounds. The other proceeding, IPR2025-01386, was Terminated-Settled, meaning the claims challenged in that petition were not adjudicated by the PTAB on the merits and thus are neither sustained nor canceled by a PTAB ruling.

The estoppel landscape is evolving. For IPR2025-01386, Volex plc and its privies would be estopped under 35 U.S.C. § 315(e)(2) from asserting in future district court or ITC actions any invalidity ground they raised or reasonably could have raised in their petition, specific to the claims challenged in that IPR, should the PTAB have issued a final written decision. However, since it settled prior to institution, the full scope of estoppel may be limited to grounds actually raised in the petition if there were any collateral estoppel effects from the settlement agreement itself, which is confidential. For IPR2025-01219, if a Final Written Decision issues, Marvell Semiconductor, Inc. and its privies will be estopped from raising any ground they raised or reasonably could have raised during the IPR with respect to the claims addressed in the FWD. Other potential defendants would still be able to pursue invalidity arguments against claims 1-14 using other prior art or even the same prior art if they are not in privity with Marvell, particularly if the PTAB does not cancel all challenged claims.

A pattern signal is that Credo Technology Group Ltd. is facing multiple IPRs on this patent, indicating that its validity is being actively scrutinized by competitors. The fact that Marvell Semiconductor, Inc. has several IPRs against Credo Technology Group, as shown in the search results, suggests a broader dispute.

Recommended next steps

For IPR2025-01219, which was instituted on 2026-02-03, the PTAB has a statutory deadline of one year from institution to issue a Final Written Decision (FWD). Therefore, the FWD for IPR2025-01219 is anticipated by approximately 2027-02-03. Parties involved or interested in this patent should closely monitor the docket for this proceeding for further updates, including scheduling orders, oral hearing dates, and the eventual issuance of the FWD. The PTAB's decisions are publicly available on the USPTO PTAB Decisions portal.