Patent Trial and Appeal Board Grants PQI’s Requests for Review of Three Patents Related to Loyalty Programs

IPRs filed by the Patent Quality Initiative Move Forward in Process to Invalidate Questionable Patents

New York, NY, April 29, 2015, The Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) has instituted inter partes review (IPR) proceedings on three business method patents directed to loyalty rewards programs that Askeladden L.L.C. challenged as part of its Patent Quality Initiative (PQI).  In October, Askeladden filed six IPR petitions requesting review of the three patents, U.S. Patent Nos. 8,297,502, 8,523,063 and 8,540,152, on the grounds that they are invalid.  The PTAB issued decisions on April 23, 2015, which found that Askeladden’s petitions established a reasonable likelihood that each of the claims in each of the patents is invalid.  A final decision on invalidity is expected within one year.

“With these decisions, we are one step closer to invalidating three weak patents,” said Sean Reilly, General Counsel of Askeladden L.L.C. “The Patent Trial and Appeal Board decisions recognize the poor quality of these patents. The IPR process was designed to deal with patents that have been issued absent any new patentable idea, and PQI will continue to employ the IPR process to improve patent quality.” 

Family members of the loyalty rewards program patents have been asserted in patent infringement lawsuits against ten U.S. airlines, based on their frequent flyer programs. These lawsuits allege infringement of patents describing conversion of points and other rewards from partner programs (e.g., credit card loyalty programs) into frequent flier miles. In the present IPR proceedings, the PTAB will review three patents that are not the same as those in the airline lawsuits, but which cover similar subject matter.