On Friday, February 28, 2025, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) announced the withdrawal of the June 2022 memorandum titled “Interim Procedure for Discretionary Denials in AIA Post-Grant Proceedings with Parallel District Court Litigation,” which had been issued by former USPTO Director Kathi Vidal.
The 2022 Memorandum was intended to clarify the Patent
Recently, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) announced a new interim procedure for decision circulation and internal review. This interim procedure is aimed at promoting feedback, eliminating inconsistencies, and increasing transparency during the decision pre-issuance process. The push for increased transparency comes as a result of last year’s Supreme Court decision in United States
In late December, in Intel Corp. v. Qualcomm Inc., 2020-1828 (Fed. Cir. Dec. 28, 2021), the Federal Circuit found the PTAB erred by accepting Intel’s stipulation concerning the indefiniteness of a means-plus-function claim term. In this opinion, the Federal Circuit explains that in Inter Partes Review (IPR) proceedings, patentability determinations cannot be circumvented due to
Recently, the Supreme Court received two petitions for writ of certiorari challenging the NHK-Fintiv rule. The PTAB applies the NHK-Fintiv rule when deciding whether to grant institution of an inter partes review. The two petitioners, Apple and Mylan, seek to challenge both the lawfulness of the NHK-Fintiv rule and the Federal Circuit’s contention that it
Earlier this month, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board granted a request for rehearing in Maxlite, Inc. v. Jiaxing Super Lighting Elec. Appl. Co., Ltd., No. IPR2020-00208, Paper 14 (P.T.A.B. June 1, 2021), thereby instituting a previously-denied Inter Partes Review. In the decision, the Board admitted to abusing its discretion in initially denying Institution.
In