English
Pro Hac Vice Policy of the New Patent Trial & Appeal Board
PTAB To Exercise Discretion Relative to Non-registered Practitioners
The new post grant patent proceedings of the America Invents Act (AIA) are adjudicative in nature. That is to say, Derivation, Inter Partes Review (IPR) and Post Grant Review (PGR) will be conducted as trials before the Patent Trial & Appeal Board (PTAB). Patent examiners will no longer referee inter partes disputes at the USPTO (outside of legacy inter partes reexamination proceedings)
While IPR and PGR will include many litigation style mechanisms, such as limited discovery, protective orders, motions, etc, these proceedings will also embrace traditional functions of patent application prosecution. (e.g., claim amending and engineering/scientific analysis). As noted previously, non-registered practitioners can, in limited circumstances, be permitted to appear before the current Board of Patent Appeals & Interferences (BPAI) on a pro hac vice basis. The PTAB will adopt this practice. Rule 42.10(c)
Recently, Chief Judge Smith explained the standard that will be applied to applications of non-registered practitioners by the PTAB. Read the rest of this entry »
