Category: PTAB
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Preexamination II: Landscape For Drafting
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in AI assisted patent analysis, AI assisted Patent Generation, Artificial Intelligence and Patents, Artificial Intelligence for Patents, Ex Parte Prosecution, Large Language Model (LLM), Machine Learning (ML), Patent generation to avoid validity challenges, Patent Portfolio Management, Preexamination, PTAB, PTAB Patent TrialsSeries note. This is the second post in the Preexamination series. The first was Preexamination: Seeing the Art Before the Office Does Part I argued that the introduction of AI is not simply better search. It is the ability to read a body of art, reason about what it teaches, and adapt the application while…
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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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Federal Circuit Denies Mandamus in Three IPR Institution Challenges: Deference to PTAB Discretion
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in Amended Rulemaking, America Invents Act, claim challenges, Federal Circuit, Federal Circuit Review of PTAB Proceedings, Future of PTAB Trial Practice, IPR, Litigation, Mandamus Actions in the Federal Circuit, Post Grant Review, PTAB, PTAB Patent Trials, PTO Director Review of AIA Trials, PTO Sued Under the APANov. 6, 2025 In three nonprecedential orders issued today, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit denied mandamus relief for petitioners challenging the Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s (PTAB) discretionary denials of inter partes review (IPR) petitions. These decisions—arising from parallel district court litigation and the recent rescission of interim guidance on IPR…
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PTAB Discretionary Denials and Patent Prosecution Topics at the 2025 Midwest IP Institute
Join us at the 2025 Midwest IP Institute on September 18 and 19 for a deep dive into patent, trademark, and copyright topics. On Friday, September 19, I’ll be moderating a special panel discussing recent PTO developments that impact patent practice. We’ll explore PTAB discretionary denials, the new prior art fee structure, and their influence…
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What’s Important Now in Intellectual Property?
With all that is going on in world events and a pandemic that has raged on for over a year, it’s hard to focus on intellectual property as an important topic to discuss. But we must because innovation has carried on and patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets are still valuable assets that have to…
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Complex Claim Construction Issues in Knowles Electronics v. Cirrus Logic
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A recent Federal Circuit case demonstrates the complexity of resolving difficult claim construction issues in multiple agency and court proceedings. In Knowles Electronics v. Cirrus Logic the Federal Circuit declined to apply its own prior claim interpretation of the same term of the same claims of the same patent. U.S. Patent No. 6,781,231 (“the ’231 patent”) entitled “Microelectromechanical System…
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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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10 Minute Webinar on IPR Claim Amendments In View of Aqua Products
If you are interested in knowing more about amendments in IPR proceedings and the practical impact of the Federal Circuit’s en banc Aqua Products decision, click here to view a brief 10 minute presentation.
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Shire’s Granted Motion to Amend Offers Additional Insight Into PTAB Amendment Practice
When a patent undergoes review at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (“PTAB”), the Patent Owner has an opportunity to file a motion to amend claims so that a substitute claim can be proposed for each claim sought to be amended. Stakeholders, and even some jurists, have been critical of the PTAB for denying the majority…