A recent notice from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) informed patent owners that “Starting September 1, 2025 all Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) hearings will be held in person.” (Emphasis added). As of now “all hearings” seems to include PTAB hearings for Ex Parte appeals. This in-person initiative seems to be more stringent than pre-COVID PTAB hearings for Ex Parte appeals, which could be held virtually at the appellant’s request.
Exceptions for the in-person requirement exist if a party can show good cause as to why they cannot attend in-person, such as “financial hardship, medical emergencies, or other comparable obstacles to in-person attendance.”
In view of this new guidance, patent owners will need to take into account the time and cost of attending an in-person hearing when requesting a PTAB hearing as part of their Ex Parte appeal. Appellants may want to consider requesting a hearing at a USPTO regional office (Dallas, TX; Denver, CO; Detroit, MI; or San Jose, CA) to reduce travel costs if attending an in-person hearing at USPTO Headquarters in Alexandria, VA is cost prohibitive.
