Procedures

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New Precedent Clarifies Previous Uncertainty

Discussing testimony with a witness during a PTAB deposition is a “no-no”….kinda. The Trial Practice Guide (Appendix D) makes clear that counsel may not confer with its witness while under cross-examination. Panels have issued conflicting decisions on whether that prohibition extends to redirect testimony occurring after cross-examination is complete.

In a precedential designation today of a 2014 case, Focal Therapeutics, Inc. v. SenoRx, Inc., Case IPR2014-00116 (PTAB July 21, 2014) (Paper 19), the Board settled that question.
Continue Reading Conferring With Your Witness Prior to PTAB Redirect?

Simultaneous/Redundant Petitions Attacking Same Claims Questioned

The Patent Trial & Appeal Board’s (PTAB) new focus on institution equities of serial petition challenges was the most significant development of 2018. Since that time the Board has expanded its equitable focus beyond follow-on petitions and similarly situated defendants to consider parallel litigation timing.

This week, the Board tackled a new consideration. That is, whether it makes sense from a fairness perspective to give an IPR petitioner 5 bites at the same apple. I have been expecting this one.
Continue Reading PTAB Pushes Back on Redundant Filings of Same Petitioner

I love to create bokeh from colorful things. This was taken from some colorful glasses.
Shabu Anower, Unsplash
New Chief & Deputy Chief to Speak Thursday

The Patent Trial & Appeal Board (PTAB) is hosting a Boardside Chat webinar this Thursday, April 4th from noon to 1pm(EST). The webinar will introduce new Chief Judge Scott Boalick and Deputy Chief Judge Jackie Bonilla. The judges will discuss recent precedential and informative decisions issued by…

101 Guidance To Relax Patentability Standard?

Today, the USPTO announced revised guidance for subject matter eligibility under 35 U.S.C. § 101 (here). The USPTO also announced guidance on the application of 35 U.S.C. § 112 to computer-implemented inventions (here). The documents will be published in the Federal Register on Monday, January…

PTAB 2018: A Year of Agency Recalibration

The Patent Trial & Appeal Board (PTAB) stole much of the 2018 patent law spotlight. From landmark Supreme Court decisions such as Oil States and SAS Institute, to significant en banc Federal Circuit decisions in WiFi-One, PTAB practice evolved more in 2018 than in any prior year. That said, the most impactful 2018 changes for practitioners were driven by the agency.

Under the pro-patent leadership of Director Iancu, the agency is expected to drive still further change in 2019.
Continue Reading Top 5 PTAB Practice Developments of 2018

Boardside Chat & Special PLI Briefing

For those seeking Patent Trial & Appeal Board (PTAB) related CLE/programming this month, the PTAB itself is hosting a Boardside Chat webinar this Thursday, Dec. 6th from noon to 1 p.m. ET.

The topic of the webinar is hearsay and authentication before the Board. Lead Judge Michael Zecher along…

Efficiency Considerations Determined at the Time of Institution

Since the unraveling of partial institution practices in SAS Institute, stakeholders have speculated that the Patent Trial & Appeal Board may begin denying petitions that present administrative inefficiencies. For example, where a petition attacking 30 claims is assessed as failing to meet the threshold standard for 29 of the 30 claims, the Board may exercise its discretion to deny the petition in the interest of efficiency.

Such a situation was recently presented in Chevron Oronite Company LLC v. Infineum USA L.P. (here).
Continue Reading Leveraging SAS Leftovers to Avoid PTAB Institution

Director’s Precedent Setting Power Likely to Unravel Issue Joinder?

Four years ago, a divided panel of the Patent Trial & Appeal Board (PTAB) denied issue joinder under 35 U.S.C. § 315(c) as a matter of law (i.e., the joining of two petitions of a same petitioning party) in Target Corp. v. Destination Maternity Corp., (IPR2014-00508). The decision was remarkable at the time, given that 315(c) had been previously interpreted under multiple PTAB decisions as permitting such joinder practices. In fact, one such decision, Microsoft Corp. v. Proxyconn, Inc., IPR2012-00026, Paper 17, Dec. 21, 2012, had even been published as a representative order on the PTO web site.

Target filed a request for rehearing challenging the decision.  In its Decision on Rehearing the PTAB expanded the panel reversed its original decision, granting Target’s petition for joinder and finding 315(c) to permit issue joinder. This decision became notorious thereafter as an example of the Board’s “panel stacking” to reach a desired outcome.  (At the time I explained this was more a function of the difficulty in designating decisions precedential rather than any nefarious design against Patent Owners, that is, the PTAB needed to pick a direction by brute force where conflicting decisions prevented a consensus vote of the Board)

More recently the USPTO has welcomed a new pro-patent Director that has made clear he believes the PTAB could use some pro-patent recalibration.  Recently, the agency has given the new Director the ability to make precedent virtually on his own. Based on a decision last week, it may be that the Director could unravel the Board’s chosen path on issue joinder to the delight of patent owners.
Continue Reading Director Iancu to Unravel Panel Stacking Decision?

Assignor Estoppel Precluded by AIA Statutes…But What of Other Equitable Defenses?

The doctrine of assignor estoppel bars the assignor of a patent from challenging the validity of the patent after it is assigned. In considering this defense to an AIA trial proceeding, the Patent Trial & Appeal Board (PTAB) had consistently held that this common-law doctrine is subject to abrogation by statute, and that the AIA statutes do exactly that. The Federal Circuit recently agreed.

However, the Board has considered and applied other equitable defenses. For example, the Board has applied waiver (prior to the Federal Circuit’s determination that tribal immunity did not apply to the PTAB). Thus, equitable defenses that do not conflict with the AIA statutes may be leveraged.

One equitable defense that could become more prominent going forward —given the alignment of claim construction standards between the PTAB and courts— is judicial estoppel.Continue Reading Equitable Defenses at the PTAB

New SOPs Demystify Internal Practices & Consolidate PTAB Policy Control to Director

The PTAB has substantially revised its Standard Operating Procedures (“SOPs”) regarding paneling of matters before the PTAB (SOP1) and precedential and informative decisions (SOP2).

SOP1 largely explains existing internal processes relating to assignment/reassignment of judges in the interests of increasing transparency, predictability, and reliability across the USPTO. More specifically, revised SOP1 explains the procedures for panel assignment and for informing parties regarding panel changes. It also explains the process for designating panels with more than three judges, and notes that such panels should be rare and will only occur with the approval of the Director.(here)

Revised SOP2 is likely to draw the most interests as it creates a Precedential Opinion Panel (POP) that effectively moves the previous PTAB precedent setting power away from the judges to the domain of the agency executives. 
Continue Reading PTO Director to Drive PTAB Precedent Going Forward