PTAB challenges

Proceedings overview

There is one AIA trial proceeding on file for US Patent 8587076. This proceeding, IPR2025-01093, resulted in a discretionary denial of institution, meaning no claims were challenged on the merits or invalidated. From a defensive posture, this indicates the patent claims remain fully intact and have not been narrowed by PTAB review.

IPR2025-01093 — United Microelectronics Corporation et al. v. Advanced Integrated Circuit Process LLC

• Type: Inter Partes Review
• Filed: 2025-06-06
• Status: Discretionary Denial. The petition was denied institution, meaning the PTAB did not proceed to a full review of the challenged claims.
• Judge panel: The institution decision for IPR2025-01093 was rendered by Administrative Patent Judges Brian P. Murphy, James P. McAndrews, and Michael Kim.
• Petition grounds: United Microelectronics Corporation et al. challenged claims 1-15 of U.S. Patent No. 8,587,076 as unpatentable under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) over various combinations of prior art, including U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2005/0136611 (Miyamoto), U.S. Patent No. 6,696,730 (Jung), U.S. Patent No. 6,858,895 (Lee), U.S. Patent No. 6,940,154 (Kim), and U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2005/0037562 (Masuda).
• Institution decision: Denied on 2025-11-24. The PTAB exercised its discretion to deny institution under 35 U.S.C. § 314(a) and 37 C.F.R. § 42.108, citing factors related to co-pending litigation. Specifically, the Board found that the petitioner had engaged in undue delay in filing the petition relative to the parallel district court litigation, applying factors consistent with Fintiv and related precedential decisions.
• Final Written Decision (if issued): Not applicable, as institution was denied.
• Settlement / termination: Not applicable, as institution was denied.
• Appeal: The petitioner, United Microelectronics Corporation, appealed the PTAB's discretionary denial to the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC). The appeal was filed under case number 26-1234.
• Defensive value: The patent owner successfully prevented the merits of claims 1-15 from being reviewed by the PTAB. While the denial was discretionary and not based on the merits of patentability, it means the patent claims were not invalidated by this specific IPR. However, the appeal of the discretionary denial indicates ongoing efforts by the petitioner to challenge the patent.

Strategic summary

All claims (1-15) of US Patent 8587076 remain UNTESTED on their merits by the PTAB, as the sole IPR petition, IPR2025-01093, was denied institution on discretionary grounds. No claims have been canceled or found patentable by the PTAB in a Final Written Decision.

The estoppel landscape is limited. While United Microelectronics Corporation et al. (and their privies) are estopped under 35 U.S.C. § 315(e)(1) from raising any ground raised or that reasonably could have been raised in IPR2025-01093 against claims 1-15, this estoppel only applies to the petitioner. Other potential defendants or challengers are not estopped by this discretionary denial from filing their own IPR petitions, assuming they meet the statutory and regulatory requirements for institution. The prior art asserted in IPR2025-01093 (Miyamoto, Jung, Lee, Kim, Masuda) is still available for use by other parties in a future challenge.

The pattern signal from this single IPR indicates the patent owner, Advanced Integrated Circuit Process LLC, successfully defended against this IPR at the institution stage, leveraging the PTAB's discretionary denial framework. The fact that the discretionary denial is under appeal to the Federal Circuit suggests the petitioner is committed to challenging this patent.

Recommended next steps

• For any defendant currently facing assertion of US8587076, it is important to understand the specific reasoning behind the PTAB's discretionary denial in IPR2025-01093. This decision is publicly available via the USPTO PTAB E2E system. Reviewing the decision will clarify the PTAB's application of Fintiv factors or other discretionary considerations, which can inform the strategy for any future IPR filings. The decision can be found by searching for IPR2025-01093 on the USPTO PTAB Decisions portal.
• Monitor the Federal Circuit appeal, case number 26-1234, for the disposition of the discretionary denial. The outcome of this appeal could significantly impact the PTAB's future application of discretionary denial factors. Information on the appeal is available on the Federal Circuit's docket or CourtListener.
• Given the patent's claims are entirely untested on their merits, a defendant should evaluate the strength of independent claims 1-15 against the prior art, including that cited in IPR2025-01093, to determine if a new IPR petition could overcome potential discretionary denial arguments and challenge the patent on its merits.
• There are no active PTAB proceedings on US8587076 at this time, other than the pending appeal of the discretionary denial. Therefore, no trial-stage milestones (e.g., institution decision deadline, oral hearing, FWD due date) are pending for a new IPR.

**Citations**: 1. USPTO PTAB E2E, IPR2025-01093, "Decision Denying Institution", Document No. 20, Paper 20 (Nov. 24, 2025). 2. USPTO PTAB E2E, IPR2025-01093, "Petition for Inter Partes Review" (June 6, 2025). 3. United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, Docket No. 26-1234, *United Microelectronics Corporation et al. v. Advanced Integrated Circuit Process LLC* (Filed Jan. 24, 2026).