Category: serial petitions
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Institution Discretion and the 2026 AIA Docket
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in America Invents Act, Ex Parte Prosecution, Federal Circuit Review of PTAB Proceedings, Future of PTAB Trial Practice, inter partes review, Litigation, Mandamus Actions in the Federal Circuit, Patent Portfolio Management, petitions practice, Post Grant Review, Prosecution Guidelines, PTAB, PTAB Patent Trials, PTO Director Review of AIA Trials, reexamination generally, serial petitionsSept. 2, 2026 Last September, after John Squires was confirmed as Director, I wrote that we would see whether the then-emerging line of discretionary dismissals of IPR petitions “is to be extended or will itself be tempered.” The Federal Circuit answered the reviewability half on November 6. The 2026 filing and institution numbers supply the…
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PTAB Expanded Panel Decides Sovereign Immunity Is Waived For District Court Patent Assertions by State Entities
Sovereign immunity has been a topic of great debate ever since the Patent Trial and Appeal Board applied it to dismiss inter partes reviews (IPRs) involving state owned patent rights. In Covidien v. University of Florida Research Foundation the Board dismissed three IPRs based on sovereign immunity. (IPR2016-01274, -01275, -01276.) Other universities caught wind of the Covidien decision…
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PTAB Boardside Chat Provides Statistics About Multiple IPR Petition Filings
On October 24, 2017, PTAB Chief Judge David Ruschke and Lead Judge William Saindon conducted a webinar covering filing statistics for IPR petition filings, and in particular how multiple petitions have fared statistically in the PTAB. They also announced three informative decisions relating to the 35 USC § 325(d) issue: IPR2016-01571 – Unified Patents, Inc. v. Berman IPR2017-00739…