Ethanol Boosting Systems, LLC v. Ford Motor Company, No. 24-1381 (Dec. 23, 2025) (precedential 3-0); U.S. Patent Nos. 10,619,580, 10,781,760, and 9,708,965.

Key points:

• The PTAB is not automatically bound by a prior district court’s claim construction, especially when that prior ruling was not final or appealed.
• The PTAB is free to interpret the patent claims on its own, i.e., independently from a prior district court’s claim construction.

In re ESTECH SYSTEMS IP, LLC, No. 24-1935 (December 23, 2025) (nonprecedential) (3-0) U.S. Patent No. 7,068,684.

Key points:

• The patent’s own definitions of the claim terms heavily guide claim construction.
• Motivation to combine does not require explicit teaching in the prior art if the combination would have been predictable and logical to someone skilled in the field.