Tomorrow morning, the Senate Judiciary will pass the nominations of Leonard P. Stark to be United States Circuit Judge for the Federal Circuit, and Katherine Vidal to be Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property & Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office, to the
This year I posted my top 2021 PTAB developments over at IPWatchdog. You can find it here Patent Trial and Appeal Board Year in Review: The Top Five PTAB Developments of 2021
For a more in depth discussion of these issues, and
The Senate Judiciary vetted USPTO Director Nominee Kathy Vidal earlier this month. Not surprisingly, the hearing was fairly uneventful (even for uber-geeks, like myself). With a confirmation vote looming, some final written materials have been submitted by Ms. Vidal that are similarly generic in espousing any particular viewpoint that could be labeled as “pro-patent” or “anti-patent.” That said, reading the tea-leaves, there are some PTAB developments that seem inevitable for 2022 given the current landscape.
Continue Reading Expect Slight PTAB Adjustments From the New Director in 2022
At 10AM today, the Senate Judiciary Committee will hold nomination hearings for Leonard P. Stark to be United States Circuit Judge for the Federal Circuit, and Katherine Vidal to be Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property & Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office. It appears
ACI’s inaugural “PTAB Briefing” arrives in two weeks. The program will provide an in depth-discussions and year-end analysis of the most significant developments impacting PTAB practice as well as future forecasts for 2022.
I will be speaking on the panel entitled: Think Tank: Recent Developments & the Future Direction of
Back in September of 2020, a number of large tech companies sued the USPTO for violating the APA by denying IPR petitions on the basis of a competing trial date. More specifically, the suit argued that the so-called NHK-Fintiv practice — implemented without notice and comment rulemaking — was in violation of established APA practices. Since filing, the Court seemed quite interested in that argument at an earlier oral hearing on summary judgment. Oddly, the case was dismissed yesterday based upon the 314(d) appeal bar.Continue Reading NHK-Fintiv APA Suit Ends Abruptly
Last week, the “Restoring America’s Leadership in Innovation Act” was again floated by Republican Congressman Thomas Massie (KY). The same draft Bill was previously released in 2018 and 2020. Backed only by a handful of relatively powerless House Republicans, the Bill proposes a number of highly controversial measures. But, if you are going to dream, dream big!
Continue Reading Make Patent Trolls Great Again!
As I pointed out in my previous post, the Senate Judiciary Committee has targeted WDTX venue practice as unseemly and inappropriate. In a two-pronged attack on the WDTX, Senator Tillis is now warning the PTAB to stop relying on unrealistic WDTX trial dates in its Fintiv analyses. This separate letter to Acting USPTO Director Hirshfeld is signed only by Senator Tillis as he supports Fintiv practices (Leahy does not).
In the letter, Senator Tillis points out that a far more predictable indicator of the ultimate trial date is average time to trial, not the “aggressive trial dates” set by judge Albright.
Continue Reading PTAB Warned to Disregard Unrealistic WDTX Trial Schedules
Earlier this week, the PTAB issued a rare win for a patent owner in an Director Rehearing. The Rehearing option, provided after the SCOTUS decision in Arthrex, enables a party to request the Director of the USPTO review the record prior to appeal to the Federal Circuit. To date, this option has not been any more successful than a typical panel rehearing request (not surprisingly). This week’s decision may shed some light on the type of issues that may catch the Director’s eye.
Continue Reading PTAB Grants Director Rehearing Request
Following a year of global change and pandemic-related disruption, the Biden administration’s position on IP policy is being closely scrutinized by the patent community. With key leadership positions still awaiting candidate nominations, what is on the horizon for patent law and policy in 2021 and beyond?
IAM’s