Apple Inc. pulled off a daily double at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on Tuesday, winning precedential decisions that beat back patent infringement challenges to its iTunes Music Store and smartphone architecture.
The iTunes decision, SightSound Media v. Apple, underscored the Federal Circuit’s hands-off style of appellate review over Patent Trial and Appeal Board decisions, affirming the PTAB’s broad discretion to decide what constitutes a covered business method, or CBM, and to decide cases sua sponte on grounds not raised by the petitioner.
