PTAB/USPTO Update - March 2025

USPTO Leadership

• On February 24, 2025 the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) announced that David Gooder would step down from his role as Commissioner for Trademarks at the end of the month.

USPTO News

• On February 28, the USPTO rescinded a June 21, 2022, memorandum entitled “Interim Procedure for Discretionary Denials in AIA Post-Grant Proceedings with Parallel District Court Litigation,” which provided guidance regarding discretionary denials of institution of inter partes review (IPR) and post grant review (PGR) petitions in light of parallel district court litigation. The announcement directs practitioners to the Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s (PTAB’s) precedent, such as Apple Inc. v. Fintiv, Inc., IPR2020-00019, Paper 11 (PTAB Mar. 20, 2020) (precedential) and Sotera Wireless, Inc. v. Masimo Corp., IPR2020-01019, Paper 12 (PTAB Dec. 1, 2020) (precedential as to § II.A).
• On February 18, the USPTO announced that it will transition USPTO.gov login systems to more secure multifactor authentication methods, including Okta Verify, an authenticator application, a security key, or a biometric authenticator. Users that rely on SMS or telephone services as a second authentication factor must switch to one of these new methods by May 1. More information is available on the USPTO’s multifactor authentication FAQs page.
• On February 12, the USPTO released the Open Data Portal (ODP), which provides easy access to USPTO data, for example by facilitating text searching of patent file wrapper documents, providing a directory of bulk data sets, and making various data sets accessible through Application Programming Interfaces (APIs). ODP will replace the Patent Examination Data System (PEDs) and the Bulk Data Storage System (BDSS), which will be discontinued on March 14 and April 13, respectively.

General Notices

• Closing of the United States Patent and Trademark Office on Tuesday, December 24, 2024, 1531 OG 116 (February 4, 2025) (deeming December 24, 2024 a “Federal holiday within the District of Columbia” under 35 U.S.C. 21 and 37 CFR 1.6, 1.7, 1.9, 2.2(d), 2.195, and 2.196 due to Office closure)
• Closing of the United States Patent and Trademark Office on Monday, January 6, 2025, and Tuesday, January 7, 2025, 1531 OG 236 (February 11, 2025) (deeming January 6 and 7, 2025 a “Federal holiday within the District of Columbia” under 35 U.S.C. 21 and 37 CFR 1.6, 1.7, 1.9, 2.2(d), 2.195, and 2.196 due to Office closure)
• Closing of the United States Patent and Trademark Office on Thursday, January 9, 2025, 1531 OG 235 (February 11, 2025) (deeming January 9, 2025 a “Federal holiday within the District of Columbia” under 35 U.S.C. 21 and 37 CFR 1.6, 1.7, 1.9, 2.2(d), 2.195, and 2.196 due to President Biden’s designation of that day as a “National Day of Mourning”)
• Relief Available to Patent and Trademark Applicants, Patentees, Reexamination Parties, and Registered Trademark Owners Affected by the Wildfires in California, __ OG __ (March 18, 2025) (deeming “the effects of the wildfires in California beginning on January 7, 2025, to be an ‘extraordinary situation’ within the meaning of 37 CFR 1.183, 2. l 46(a)(5), and 2.148 for affected patent and trademark applicants, patentees, reexamination parties, and registered trademark owners” and providing corresponding relief)

Final Rules

• There are no new final rules

Interim Rules

• There are no new interim rules.

Proposed Rules

• There are no new proposed rules.

PTAB Decisions

• New Precedential PTAB Decisions
  • There are no new precedential PTAB decisions.
• New Informative PTAB Decisions
  • There are no new informative PTAB decisions.
• New Director Review Decisions
  • There are no new director review decisions