PTAB challenges

Proceedings overview

One AIA trial proceeding has been filed against US patent 9560177. The proceeding is IPR2025-01285, which received a discretionary denial. This means the patent's claims remain untested and unhardened by PTAB review.

IPR2025-01285 — [Dell Technologies Inc. et al](/litigations/by-defendant/Dell%20Technologies%20Inc.%20et%20al). v. Cloud Byte LLC

• Type: Inter Partes Review
• Filed: 2025-07-14
• Status: Discretionary Denial. This indicates the PTAB declined to institute the IPR based on discretionary factors, rather than the merits of the petition's patentability challenges.
• Judge panel: Not publicly available at this time.
• Petition grounds: Not publicly available given the discretionary denial, as the merits were not fully adjudicated.
• Institution decision: Denied (Discretionary Denial). The petition was denied on 2026-01-15 due to procedural reasons.
• Final Written Decision: Not applicable, as institution was denied.
• Settlement / termination: Not applicable, as institution was denied.
• Appeal: Not applicable, as institution was denied.
• Defensive value: The patent owner prevailed, meaning the patent's claims have not been challenged or altered through this IPR. An IPR-based defense will be harder for future petitioners if the basis for the discretionary denial is applicable to their own circumstances.

Strategic summary

All claims of US patent 9560177 remain untested by PTAB review because the sole IPR filed against it, IPR2025-01285, was denied institution on discretionary grounds. There are no canceled or sustained claims as a result of PTAB proceedings.

The estoppel landscape is minimal due to the discretionary denial. Dell Technologies Inc. and its privies would be estopped under § 315(e)(2) from raising the specific grounds they raised in IPR2025-01285. However, because the denial was discretionary and not on the merits of the prior art, the specific prior-art grounds and statutory bases (§ 102 / § 103) were not fully adjudicated. Other potential petitioners would likely not be estopped from challenging the claims of 9560177 on any grounds, including those raised in the denied petition, provided they are not in privy with Dell Technologies Inc. et al.

There is no pattern of PTAB activity to observe beyond this single discretionary denial. The patent owner, Cloud Byte LLC, has not had to defend the patent on the merits before the PTAB. The petitioner was Dell Technologies Inc. et al., suggesting a defensive aggregator like Unified Patents was involved, as Unified Patents is listed as the petitioner for IPR2025-01285 in the Google Patents litigation data.

Recommended next steps

The PTAB proceeding IPR2025-01285 was denied institution on discretionary grounds on 2026-01-15. This means the patent claims were not evaluated on their merits. For a defendant facing assertion of this patent, the full breadth of prior-art grounds remains available for a potential IPR challenge. Any future IPR petition would need to carefully consider and address the specific reasons for the discretionary denial in IPR2025-01285 to avoid a similar outcome.

Details about the IPR can be found on the Unified Patents portal: https://portal.unifiedpatents.com/ptab/case/IPR2025-01285