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Judge says 'common sense' not enough to invalidate patent in Arendi v. Apple & Google

Judges cannot invoke "common sense" when considering the validity of a patent, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled on Wednesday, impacting a case pitting Arendi S.A.R.L. against Apple and Google.

A U.S. Patent and Trademark Office review board made a mistake when it used only "common knowledge and common sense" to invalidate an Arendi patent, the Court of Appeals said according to Bloomberg. The court argued that such sentiments "cannot be used as a wholesale substitute for reasoned analysis and evidentiary support," overturning the prior ruling.

The patent in question involves the way a computer app displays a document while searching for outside infomation, a given example being a name detection system that finds and inserts associated addresses.

Arendi has leveled infringement accusations against a host of companies, another one being Samsung. To undermine Arendi, defendants asked the USPTO to review the patent, scoring an apparently brief victory.

In July, however, the appeals court did uphold a USPTO decision to invalidate a second patent. Other challenges are still awaiting USPTO review, and will have to be resolved before Arendi's lawsuits can continue.