The notice

In a Notice of Decisions on Institution dated November 3, 2026, USPTO Director John A. Squires stated that, after review of the merits, the petitioner had failed to show a reasonable likelihood of prevailing with respect to at least one of the challenged claims, and that institution of inter partes review was denied in IPR2026-00383, IPR2026-00384, IPR2026-00385, IPR2026-00386, and IPR2026-00387. The notice lists outcomes by proceeding number.

The five petitions

Optiver US LLC and Optiver Trading US LLC filed all five petitions between June 2 and June 5, 2026, challenging patents for which they name HFT Solutions, LLC as patent owner. Each petition requests cancellation of the challenged claims as obvious under 35 U.S.C. 103 over combinations of references, and states that the petitioners do not dispute, for purposes of the petition only, an effective filing date of February 21, 2019 for the challenged claims. Each petition states that the challenged patent is not presently the subject of any litigation:

  • IPR2026-00383: U.S. Patent 12,107,587, issued October 1, 2024, claims 1-12 (petition filed June 2, 2026; corrected petition filed August 3, 2026).
  • IPR2026-00384: U.S. Patent 10,763,865, issued September 1, 2020, claims 1-21 (petition filed June 2, 2026; corrected petition filed August 3, 2026).
  • IPR2026-00385: U.S. Patent 11,018,678, issued May 25, 2021, claims 1-22 (filed June 4, 2026).
  • IPR2026-00386: U.S. Patent 10,771,069, issued September 8, 2020, claims 1-22 (filed June 4, 2026).
  • IPR2026-00387: U.S. Patent 11,329,655, issued May 10, 2022, claims 1-30 (filed June 5, 2026).

All five patents are titled Field Programmable Gate Array with Internal Phase-Locked Loop. The '587, '655, '678, and '865 patents each claim continuation priority back through the '069 patent, and all five list a provisional application filed February 21, 2019.

The district court case

HFT Solutions sued the same two Optiver entities in the Western District of Texas on September 8, 2025, HFT Solutions, LLC v. Optiver US LLC, No. 7:25-cv-00415. The complaint asserts three other patents, U.S. Patents 10,931,286, 11,128,305, and 11,575,381, each titled Field programmable gate array with external phase-locked loop, and alleges, on information and belief, that FPGA systems and platforms Optiver uses in trading infringe them. The corrected petition in IPR2026-00383 says those three patents belong to a separate patent family. The docket shows a May 22, 2026 order granting the defendants' opposed motion for intra-district transfer to the Austin Division. The case was transferred in June 2026 and now proceeds as No. 1:26-cv-01682. The court held a Markman hearing on October 28, 2026 and entered final claim constructions the same day (Dkt. 54).

What to watch next

The Director's denial means no trial was instituted in these five proceedings. Watch for any request for rehearing and for further proceedings in No. 1:26-cv-01682 following the October 28, 2026 claim constructions.