Acting Director Reverses Previous Discretionary Denial
By Adam Cook and Sarah Geers - For the first time under the bifurcated institution procedures, the Acting Director reversed her own prior discretionary denial, citing changed circumstances based on a settlement in the parallel district court litigation. See Arm Ltd....
Institution Denied Based on Parallel Proceeding and Prior Denial
By David Linden and Dave Maiorana - On December 6, 2024, Comcast Cable Communications, LLC (“Comcast”) filed three separate petitions for inter partes review (“IPR”) of U.S. Patent No. 9,866,438 (“the ’438 Patent”), which is assigned to Entropic Communications, LLC...
Cancellation of Claims Deemed An Inappropriate Sanction
By Jessie Hess,* Pranita Dhungana, and Matthew Johnson - USPTO Acting Director Stewart sua sponte reconsidered and modified a previous Director Review decision that had affirmed cancellation of all 183 challenged claims as a sanction against patent owner Longhorn...
Two Week Deadline for PTAB to Issue Notice of Filing Date Accorded
By Chris Hodge and S. Christian Platt – On July 18, 2025, Scott R. Boalick, Chief Administrative Patent Judge for the Patent Trials and Appeals Board (“PTAB”), announced that, absent good cause, the PTAB will issue a Notice of Filing Date Accorded within 14 days from...
Subsequent Challenge Does Not Justify Discretionary Denial
By Evan Tassis and Matt Johnson - In a recent decision, Acting Director Coke Morgan Stewart denied a Patent Owner’s request for discretionary denial in LifeVac, LLC v. DCSTAR, Inc., IPR2025-00454. Even though Petitioner had previously challenged the same patent in a...