In November 2013, Crocus Technology filed an Inter Partes Review petition to the US PTO, claiming that Spin Transfer Technologies's US patent #6,980,469 describes a technology already used in prior art, in particular in the patent portfolio of Crocus. In April 2014, the USPTO issued a preliminary decision in favor of Crocus' petition.
Crocus now says that it has prevailed in the Inter Partes Review of the patent. Crocus petitioned to cancel all or part of the patent as Crocusâs patent portfolio includes a patent on this technology that makes advanced non-volatile memory blocks more efficient. After careful consideration, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board of the US Patent and Trademark Office issued its final written decision cancelling or finding unpatentable all but three claims of the â469 patent.
Specifically, claims 1-12, 14-20, 22-31and 33-35 were cancelled or found unpatentable by a preponderance of the evidence. The Board issued its decision on March 26, 2015 and the time limit for appeal has now passed.
The patent in question describes a high-speed low power magnetic devices based on current induced spin-moment transfer.