On October 11, 2017, in its final written decision in inter partes review number IPR2016-00906, the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (“PTAB”) upheld the validity of all of the claims of Fameccanica’s U.S. Patent No. 6,994,761, entitled “Disposable Absorbent Garment such as a diaper or training pants and a process of making the same.” 

In its petition, challenge Curt G. Joa Company alleged that other patents prior in time to Fameccanica’s U.S. Patent No. 6,994,761 disclosed the invention claimed in Fameccanica’s patent: “a breathable, stretchable layer assembly including an inner material layer, an outer material layer and a stretchable material layer disposed there between and including vent sites which are formed by ultrasonic bonding of the inner and outer material layers through the stretchable material layer.”

The PTAB found Joa’s allegations to be meritless, as earlier anticipated by Fameccanica in its April 2016 press release and, since Joa failed to prove that any claims of Fameccanica’s patent are invalid, upheld the validity of the Fameccanica patent in the U.S.

Joa, based in Sheboygen, WI, made the initial steps to invalidate the patent in April 2016.