Case: 20-1330 Document: 50 Page: 1 Filed: 08/27/2021
NOTE: This disposition is nonprecedential.
United States Court of Appeals
for the Federal Circuit
______________________
APPLE INC.,
Appellant
v.
UNIVERSAL SECURE REGISTRY LLC,
Appellee
______________________
2020-1330
______________________
Appeal from the United States Patent and Trademark
Office, Patent Trial and Appeal Board in No. IPR2018-
00812.
______________________
Decided: August 27, 2021
______________________
BRITTANY BLUEITT AMADI, Wilmer Cutler Pickering
Hale and Dorr LLP, Washington, DC, argued for appellant.
Also represented by KEITH T. HOWELL; MONICA GREWAL,
Boston, MA; MARK D. SELWYN, Palo Alto, CA.
CHRISTOPHER MATHEWS, Quinn Emanuel Urquhart &
Sullivan, LLP, Los Angeles, CA, argued for appellee. Also
represented by TIGRAN GULEDJIAN.
______________________
Case: 20-1330 Document: 50 Page: 2 Filed: 08/27/2021
2 APPLE INC. v. UNIVERSAL SECURE REGISTRY LLC
Before NEWMAN, PROST *, and TARANTO, Circuit Judges.
PER CURIAM.
The patent at issue in this appeal is U.S. Patent No.
8,856,539, owned by Universal Secure Registry LLC (USR).
Apple filed a petition for an inter partes review, challeng-
ing several claims of the ’539 patent before the Patent Trial
and Appeal Board, which instituted the requested review
and eventually issued a final written decision that Apple
had not shown the challenged claims to be unpatentable.
In another case, we have affirmed a district court’s judg-
ment that all claims of the ’539 patent are patent ineligible.
Universal Secure Registry LLC v. Apple Inc., No. 20-2044
(Fed. Cir. Aug. 26, 2021). Therefore, as the parties agreed
at oral argument, this appeal involving the ’539 patent is
now moot. Apple Inc. v. Voip-Pal.com, Inc., 976 F.3d 1316,
1321 (Fed. Cir. 2020); Oral Arg. at 7:00–7:55, 25:00–26:40.
We vacate the Board’s final written decision and remand
for the Board to dismiss Apple’s petition. See Apple, 976
F.3d at 1321 (citing United States v. Munsingwear, Inc.,
340 U.S. 36, 39–41 (1950)).
No costs.
VACATED AND REMANDED
Circuit Judge Sharon Prost vacated the position of
*
Chief Judge on May 21, 2021.