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| (Source: Kia) |
Kia has secured victories at the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board, knocking out the vast majority of claims from two Emerging Automotive patents asserted in parallel infringement litigation in Texas. The broader dispute centers on electronic key, or "e-key," technology for vehicle access and use.
On Jan. 26, 2026, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board issued a final written decision finding claims 1-5 and 7-21 of Emerging Automotive's U.S. Patent No. 11,738,659 unpatentable, while leaving claim 6 intact. The patent, titled "Vehicles and Cloud Systems for Sharing e-Keys to Access and Use Vehicles," was challenged in an inter partes review jointly filed in 2024 by Kia Corp. and Toyota Motor Corp..
That ruling follows an earlier PTAB decision invalidating all claims of Emerging Automotive's U.S. Patent No. 9,365,188, titled "Methods and Systems for Using Cloud Services to Assign e-Keys to Access Vehicles," another patent targeted by Kia and Toyota through IPR proceedings.
By contrast, the PTAB declined to institute review of Emerging Automotive's U.S. Patent No. 10,407,026, titled "Vehicles and Cloud Systems for Assigning Temporary e-Keys to Access Use of a Vehicle," despite a petition filed by the two automakers.
Kia and Toyota have continued to challenge Emerging Automotive's portfolio, petitioning IPR against U.S. Patent No. 11,104,245 and post-grant review against U.S. Patent No. 12,337,715. Together with the previously challenged patents, those filings involve a seven-patent family directed to cloud-based e-key generation, sharing and access-control technologies for vehicles.
Emerging Automotive has asserted the patents in multiple infringement suits against Kia entities in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, filing actions in 2023 and 2025. The asserted patents in those cases include U.S. Patent Nos. 9,171,268, 9,365,188, 10,407,026, 11,396,244, 11,738,659, 11,104,245 and 12,337,715.
By PatenTrip
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