Ethanol Boosting Systems v Ford Motor Co (Fed. Cir., December 23, 2025) 2024-1381

This episode concerns an opinion from the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirming a decision by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board to invalidate several patents owned by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and licensed to Ethanol Boosting Systems (EBS). The legal dispute with Ford Motor Company centered on fuel management systems designed to reduce "engine knock" by using both direct and port fuel injection. The court rejected EBS’s procedural challenge regarding an alleged unauthorized stay of the proceedings, ruling that such institution-related decisions are generally shielded from judicial review. Furthermore, the court upheld a broad claim construction of the term "fuel," finding that the patents did not specifically exclude the use of gasoline as an anti-knock agent. Finally, the court concluded that substantial evidence supported the Board’s finding that the claimed inventions were obvious based on combinations of existing automotive prior art.

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