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Stay of Litigation Pending USPTO Review Now a Much Easier Call for Judiciary
Increased Speed and Heightened Threshold Showing for New PTAB Proceedings Drive Stays
The primary business distinctions between the USPTO Patent Trial & Appeal Board (PTAB) proceedings and traditional court based patent invalidity proceedings are the vast improvements in cost, predictability, effectiveness, and speed of PTAB proceedings— but it is the speed and effectiveness that is changing the perspective of the judiciary on staying litigation pending USPTO proceedings.
As most are aware, the old patent reexamination system, at least on the inter partes side, has been replaced by IPR. IPR must be concluded by statute within 12-18 months, a marked improvement over the (roughly speaking) previous 6 year path through the Central Reexamination Unit (CRU), Board of Patent Appeals & Interferences (BPAI) and Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC). These changes are being quickly recognized by courts, several of which have agreed to halt litigation proceedings upon the mere filing of an IPR (months in advance of an Order to grant the IPR petitions).
Previously, when a patent reexamination was the basis for the motion to stay the court proceeding, the strongest plaintiff arguments in opposition were: (1) the significant USPTO delay would prove prejudicial to the plaintiff; and (2) the SNQ standard of patent reexamination led to a 97% grant rate—both of these arguments are now falling very flat. Read the rest of this entry »
