As of 01:00 on September 27, the number of petitions for covered business method (CBM) patent reviews remained at 6, but five more petitions for inter partes reviews (IPRs) were filed, making a total of 17 IPRs.  The total number of pending potential trials is now at 23 (actual trials have not be instituted yet, as these are still preliminary proceedings and the Board must decide whether they meet the requisite standard).

The most recent filings were by Sony (IPR2012-00033), Nissan North America (IPR2012-00037 and IPR2012-00035), and Synopsys, Inc. (IPR2012-00042 and IPR2012-00041).

Some of these recent filings are petitions for review of relatively few claims.  In certain matters grounds for unpatentability under 35 US.C. § 102 are made, with backstop arguments under 35 US.C. § 103.  In some such cases, the obviousness rejections are not supported by declaration evidence, so the Petitioner must feel fairly confident in the scope of the cited prior art.  When few claims are presented for review, more detailed assertions of prior art can be made in the 60 page maximum for the petition.  See IPR2012-00035 for one such example.  Of course, it is too early to tell if the Board will institute an inter partes review using such an approach and whether the Petitioner’s approach will be ultimately sucessful.  But time will tell, unless such matters settle before proceedings go further.