PTAB Denies joinder of issues under 35 usc 315(c)

An expanded panel of PTAB denied a motion for joinder under 35 USC 315(c) as a matter of law where second petition was filed outside the 12-month window to attack a claim that was excluded from the trial order of earlier, timely filed petition.  Target Corp. v. Destination Maternity Corp., IPR2014-00508 (PTAB Sept. 25, 2014) (Paper 18). Petitioner Target filed a corrected petition for IPR of the '563 patent, having previously filed two other petitions of different, yet overlapping, subsets of claims of the '563 patent.  PTAB instituted trial on all but one of the claims of the '563 patent.  Petitioner also concurrently filed a motion for joinder pursuant to 35 USC 315(c) seeking to be joined with the instituted IPR review.  In denying the motion, the PTAB concluded that the statute 315(c) refers to the joining of a "any person" i.e., a petitioner, and not to the joining of a petition and because Target was already a party to the proceeding, it cannot be joined.