by Dennis Crouch In the non-precedential Cutsforth v. MotivePower decision, the Federal Circuit has vacated a PTAB inter partes review (IPR) final decision — holding that “the Board did not adequately describe its reasoning for finding the claims obvious.” The patent at issue is directed to a brush-assembly used to maintain an electric current with a rotating mechanism. US Patent No. 7,990,018. The Federal Circuit requires that the PTAB “articulate articulate its reasoning for making its decision.” See In re Sang-Su Lee, 277 F.3d 1338 (Fed. Cir. 2002). Along these lines, the board must explain the factual bases for its findings and must go well beyond “conclusory statements.” Most PTAB decisions are related to the question of obviousness and the Federal Circuit particularly requires the Board to “explain why a person of ordinary skill in the art would modify the prior art references to create…
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