On March 10, John Squires was officially nominated to be Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office....more
4/8/2025
/ Administrative Appointments ,
Director of the USPTO ,
Inter Partes Review (IPR) Proceeding ,
New Legislation ,
Patent Applications ,
Patent Trial and Appeal Board ,
Patents ,
Portal ,
Post-Grant Review ,
Precedential Opinion ,
Presidential Nominations ,
Proposed Legislation ,
USPTO
On March 26, 2025, Acting Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Acting Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office Coke Morgan Stewart issued a memorandum that makes several significant...more
On April 19, 2024, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) issued a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) that proposes rules regarding the exercise of discretion to determine whether to institute an Inter Partes...more
On April 16, 2024, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) issued a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) regarding Director Review of Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) decisions in America Invents Act (AIA)...more
On February 13, the USPTO issued inventorship guidance for AI-assisted innovations. The guidance, effective as of February 13, 2024, emphasizes that AI-assisted inventions are not categorically unpatentable and the...more
3/5/2024
/ America Invents Act ,
Artificial Intelligence ,
Guidance Update ,
Inter Partes Review (IPR) Proceeding ,
Inventions ,
Inventors ,
Motion to Amend ,
Obviousness ,
Patent Applications ,
Patent Trial and Appeal Board ,
Patents ,
Post-Grant Review ,
Proposed Rules ,
USPTO
On March 6, the USPTO announced a new Green Energy Category of its Patents for Humanity Program. Patents for Humanity is an awards competition that recognizes innovators who use technology to meet global humanitarian...more
4/4/2023
/ Congressional Committees ,
Expedited Actions Process ,
Filing Fees ,
Final Rules ,
Humanitarian Assistance ,
Incentive Awards ,
Innovation ,
Inter Partes Review (IPR) Proceeding ,
Interim Rule ,
Patent Examinations ,
Patent Trial and Appeal Board ,
Patents ,
Post-Grant Review ,
PTAB Precedential Opinion Panel (POP) ,
USPTO
USPTO Leadership -
..Drew Hirshfeld is still performing the functions and duties of Director. The Biden Administration has not made an announcement as to who will be nominated to become the next Director. ...more
9/9/2021
/ Administrative Procedure Act ,
America Invents Act ,
Biologics ,
Claim Construction ,
Fraud ,
Inter Partes Review (IPR) Proceeding ,
Orange Book ,
Patent Litigation ,
Patent Trial and Appeal Board ,
Patents ,
Post-Grant Review ,
Preliminary Injunctions ,
Trademarks ,
USPTO
USPTO News -
USPTO announced a new category for its Patents for Humanity Program for inventors of technology to track, prevent, diagnose, or treat COVID-19....more
5/14/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Fast Track Process ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Patent Trial and Appeal Board ,
Patents ,
Post-Grant Review ,
Trademark Modernization Act (TMA) ,
Trademarks ,
USPTO
An important set of factors the Patent Trial and Appeal Board considers when deciding whether to institute inter partes review concerns the filing of multiple petitions challenging the same patent. Part I of this two-part...more
The legal landscape for the automotive sector continued its evolution in 2018 with the development of new technology becoming a focal point for litigation, patenting and regulation. As we did at the close of 2017, we look...more
1/16/2019
/ Automotive Industry ,
Defend Trade Secrets Act (DTSA) ,
Design Patent ,
Driverless Cars ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Patent Infringement ,
Patent Litigation ,
Patents ,
Post-Grant Review ,
Regulatory Standards ,
Technology ,
Trade Secrets
On October 3, the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) completed its review of the US Patent and Trademark Office’s (USPTO) proposed new rule regarding changing the claim construction standard applied in...more
Six years after the America Invents Act created inter partes review proceedings, patent disputes increasingly involve parallel litigation, with at least one inter partes review proceeding in tandem with district court...more
The U.S. Supreme Court on April 24 issued its decision in the closely watched patent case Oil States Energy Services, LLC v. Greene’s Energy Group, LLC, 138 S. Ct. 1365 (2018). The case addressed a constitutional challenge to...more
The Supreme Court today decided two important cases involving patent rights and inter partes review at the US Patent and Trademark Office (PTO). Both cases affirm the importance of Post-Grant Proceedings as a part of an...more
4/25/2018
/ Administrative Proceedings ,
America Invents Act ,
Article III ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Inter Partes Review (IPR) Proceeding ,
Oil States Energy Services v Greene's Energy Group ,
Patent Trial and Appeal Board ,
Patents ,
Post-Grant Review ,
SAS Institute Inc. v Iancu ,
SCOTUS ,
Seventh Amendment ,
USPTO
In the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit’s recent en banc decision in Aqua Products, a deeply fractured court provides a glimpse into the perspectives that some of the judges have on post-grant practice at the...more
11/21/2017
/ Appeals ,
Burden of Persuasion ,
Burden of Production ,
Burden of Proof ,
Chevron Deference ,
Claim Amendments ,
Inter Partes Review (IPR) Proceeding ,
Motion to Amend ,
Patent Ownership ,
Patent Trial and Appeal Board ,
Patents ,
Post-Grant Review ,
Remand ,
USPTO
The America Invents Act (AIA) was enacted into law on Sept. 16, 2011, and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office implemented rules for governing the inter partes review, post-grant review, transitional program for covered...more
9/1/2015
/ America Invents Act ,
Broadest Reasonable Interpretation Standard ,
Comment Period ,
Covered Business Method Proceedings ,
Inter Partes Review (IPR) Proceeding ,
Motion to Amend ,
Obviousness ,
Patents ,
Post-Grant Review ,
Proposed Regulation ,
Real Party in Interest ,
USPTO