News & Analysis as of July 14, 2025

Director of the USPTO

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The Leahy-Smith America Invents Act is a United States federal statute enacted in 2011 aimed at simplifying the U.S. patent system and allowing inventions to be brough to market sooner. The AIA makes significant changes to the patent system, including changing from a first-to-invent scheme to a first-to-file scheme, eliminating interference proceedings and developing post-grant opposition. less -

PTAB Issues FAQs on Interim Process for Workload Management

Fish & Richardson on 4/28/2025

Last week, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) issued a list of FAQs related to the new bifurcated process for discretionary denial established in the March 26 memorandum issued by Acting Director Stewart. The FAQs...more

PTAB Year in Review – USPTO Rulemaking in 2024 Related to PTAB Practice and Procedures

Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox P.L.L.C. on 2/18/2025

The final year of Director Vidal’s tenure as the Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office was a busy year for rulemaking at the Office. Since late 2023, five Notices of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRMs) directly related to...more

2024 PTAB Year in Review: Analysis & Trends

Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox P.L.L.C. on 2/4/2025

The Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) continues to play a pivotal role in shaping the intellectual property landscape. In 2024, several developments affecting PTAB practice emerged, from new rulemaking at the USPTO to key...more

Eye on IPRs, October 2024: USPTO Issues Final PTAB Procedure Rules

Erise IP on 11/5/2024

Every month, Erise’s patent attorneys review the latest inter partes review cases and news to bring you the stories that you should know about: USPTO Issues Final Rules on PTAB Procedure - The U.S. Patent and...more

What’s in a Name? Why Reexamination Is Not a Re-Examination

Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox P.L.L.C. on 4/17/2024

Long before the America Invents Act (AIA) created the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) patent revocation proceedings, the patentability of one or more claims of any patent could be reviewed via Ex Parte Reexamination...more

2023 PTAB Year in Review: Editors’ Introduction

Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox P.L.L.C. on 2/12/2024

A review of 2023 reveals it was an active and impactful year in shaping the policy and practice before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB or Board) at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). In fact, all three...more

Sins of the Fathers? Grandparent IPR Factors into Current Institution Decision

McDermott Will & Emery on 9/7/2023

US Patent & Trademark Office (PTO) Director Kathi Vidal vacated and remanded a Patent Trial & Appeal Board decision denying institution of an inter partes review (IPR) because the Board improperly applied the precedential...more

Pending Appeal Does Not Divest Board of Statutory Authority to Institute IPRs

McDermott Will & Emery on 5/18/2023

In a case involving sua sponte review, the Director of the US Patent & Trademark Office (PTO) vacated an inter partes review (IPR) decision denying institution, found that the Patent Trial & Appeal Board had statutory...more

Review Delayed Is Not Review Denied

McDermott Will & Emery on 2/17/2023

Considering whether the US Patent & Trademark Office (PTO) Director must complete review of the Patent Trial & Appeal Board’s (Board) inter partes review (IPR) decision within the statutory deadline for a final written...more

Federal Circuit Appeals from the PTAB and ITC: Summaries of Key 2022 Decisions

Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox P.L.L.C. on 2/8/2023

As part of the recovery from the global COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit took steps to return to normal operations. It began requiring live oral arguments in August 2022 and, by November,...more

Latest Federal Court Cases - May 2022 #4

Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt PC on 6/1/2022

Arthrex, Inc. v. Smith & Nephew, Inc., Appeal No. 2018-2140 (Fed. Cir. May 27, 2022) In a return to the Federal Circuit, this case again sets precedent concerning Patent Office Director review of Patent Trial and Appeal Board...more

Federal Circuit Appeals from the PTAB and ITC: Summaries of Key 2021 Decisions

Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox P.L.L.C. on 2/9/2022

[co-author: Jamie Dohopolski] Last year, the continued global COVID-19 pandemic forced American courts to largely continue the procedures set in place in 2020. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit was no...more

The Federal Circuit holds that the Structure of the PTAB is Constitutional

Haug Partners LLP on 11/11/2021

Is the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (“Board”) constitutional? This was a question asked by Mobility Workx in Mobility Workx, LLC v. Unified Patents, LLC, 2021-1441, 2021 WL 4762265 (Fed. Cir. 2021). Mobility Workx raised...more

Arthrex SCOTUS Ruling: The IPR Show Must Go On, Just with (a Bit) More Oversight

Mintz - Intellectual Property Viewpoints on 6/25/2021

On Monday, in a highly-anticipated decision, a fractured Supreme Court issued its opinion in United States v. Arthrex, et al., striking a portion of the America Invents Act (AIA) as unconstitutional—but providing an...more

Court’s Strict Interpretation of Timing Requirement May Force Patent Validity Challenges in Two Forums

Sunstein LLP on 5/19/2020

The America Invents Act (“AIA”), signed into law in 2011, introduced inter partes review (“IPR”), which allows parties to challenge the validity of patent claims in proceedings before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board...more

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