PTAB Statistics Update & Close of Public Comment Period

Yesterday marked the close of the public comment period for both the Comments on a Proposed Pilot Program Exploring an Alternative Approach to Institution Decisions in Post Grant Administrative Reviews as well as Comments to the Amendments to the Rules of Practice for Trials Before the Patent Trial and Appeal BoardNow, with the benefit of the submitted public commentary, the USPTO will move forward with a “final” rule package for the Amendments to the Rules of Practice, and will consider the whether or not to move forward on the Single-APJ Pilot.  

Given that much of the feedback on the Pilot was negative, it remains to be seen whether this concept will be implemented in practice. Public comments are found (here), including my thoughts.  

The Amendments to the Rules of Practice are far less controversial.  Much of the commentary (bar associations) challenges the use of the broadest reasonable interpretation in AIA trials, despite the fact that the USPTO did not request thoughts on that topic. (here)  My comments are found here.
(Note: full comments may not be posted for a few days)

Today, the Patent Public Advisory Meeting held their quarterly meeting at the USPTO Alexandria campus.  The most recent update on PTAB statistics and operational initiatives is found (here)